


The dog and the mess

by Garessta



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff, Kinky, Not Beta Read, Slow Burn, Youkai are NOT furries!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:21:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 100,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23875375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Garessta/pseuds/Garessta
Summary: AU. When a powerful priestess Kagome was given Shikon no Tama for a safekeeping she was ready for a life of obligations and duty. But considering her own general luck and a curse of the jewel, no wonder that in the end her life turned out to be filled with completely different problems.
Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/Sesshoumaru, InuYasha/Kikyou (InuYasha)
Comments: 60
Kudos: 154





	1. Ungrateful patients

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place in the alternative universe, where Kagome is a priestess in feudal era and not a schoolgirl from 21st century.
> 
> Also, my only beta as of now is Word and I am not even a native English speaker, so if anyone wants to help me with looking out for mistakes please PM to me (and if you noticed any but don't want to be a beta, write about them in comments, thank you!).

It was when she went to get some water from nearby stream, that Kagome felt it - powerful, abrasive, _angry_ aura of a youkai. It was no farther away than a flight of an arrow, and Kagome dropped her water gourds to draw a bow in a seconds notice.

Only to realize, that there were no enemy in sight. Forest around was quiet and tranquil, and source of the malicious aura wasn't moving towards her. In fact, now that Kagome had a minute to actually think about it, this aura seemed... wounded. Smiling sheepishly to herself, Kagome put the bow away and picked up her gourds.

"Well, it's not paranoia if they _are_ trying to get you, right?" she murmured quietly, using a free hand to feel for a heavy burden hiding under her white garb of a priestess. Kagome hadn't spend a week without one youkai or another (and sometimes even human) trying to kill her for it since the day it came to her possession, despite all the charms hiding its aura. ' _No wonder my nerves are so tightly strung..._ ' she thought with a twinge of self-pity, before shaking it off and starting to quickly walk towards her camp.

There, Haruko already made a small bonfire and was putting some leaves together for makeshift beds - softer to sleep on than just a blanket on a naked earth. It took a few seconds for Haruko to register gourds that fell down near her and raise her eyes towards Kagome.

"Kagome-sama, are we in danger?" immediately asked the girl, reaching a hand for her own bow. Hard look on Kagome's face instantly changed into an unsure smile. Right now, after she noticed it in the first place, Kagome could feel that aura from before even from the site of their camp, but she knew that Haruko wouldn't be able to.

Haruko was a great apprentice and a helper both in the shrine where they lived and in their regular travels between nearby villages not graced with any holy people or healers living nearby. She was hard-working and kind, studious and tenacious. There was only one thing that stopped her from becoming a true priestess - complete lack of even a hint of any holy powers. Youkai could have walked over her and she would have only noticed when a boot stepped on her head.

But it didn't take her long to realize what of Kagome's many facial expressions stood for 'dangerous youkai nearby'.

"No, Haruko-chan, not really, I think," with an unsure shrug answered Kagome. "I am going to investigate - if I don't return in the morning, go on without me."

Haruko looked back at her with not-really-hidden worry. "Be careful, Kagome-sama," she said, shaking her head and turning back to piles of leaves. "I swear, one day I will find those slayers who put that burden on you and strangle them to death," was heard her murmur after that.

Kagome shook her head exasperatedly, drew a chest full of air and with newfound determination walked towards a source of a mysterious aura.

***

Sun was almost set, and forest became more dark and ominous with every passing moment and every step Kagome took towards the source of the oppressing aura. As she got closer, she could discern more and more detail from it. There were anger and pain, raw, untamed power, wild and free, and a gloss of alertness over it all. Kagome was sure that whoever was there noticed her despite her attempts to hide her aura and scent. She also was sure, that this aura would have been much more noticeable if its owner wasn't trying to hide (though Haruko wouldn't have noticed it anyway).

Finally, Kagome reached a miniscule clearing. A picture that opened to her eyes could have been a piece of art. There, below a towering oak, half-lied a creature of an utmost beauty, so inhumanly perfect that even streaks of blood leaking from the gaping wound in their chest on their pristine white clothes were looking like a part of a stunning painting.

It took a moment for Kagome to realize that a creature - youkai - was a man, and that his piercing yellow eyes were looking at her with unhidden anger. That suddenly calmed her down. After all, if this youkai was only looking, then he most probably hadn't had the strength to stand up, walk over and actually try to kill her.

"Have you finished staring, priestess? Are you going to finally give this Sesshomaru a mercy blow?" he said before Kagome could find any words of her own.

"Hey!" Kagome indignantly puffed her cheeks. "I was assessing a situation! And why should I give you a mercy blow? You may be wounded, but you are not actually _dying_! You aren't, aren't you?" finished Kagome with much lesser surety. Aura of the youkai named Sesshomaru looked too strong for a dying man, but she couldn't be that sure without coming close and actually checking on him - which she wasn't ready to do. For now.

Sesshomaru raised a brow at her.

"Why the worry in your voice, priestess? Shouldn't you be happy to be able to best the one unbested before by any priest?"

"Well, _someone_ definitely managed to best you just recently," retorted Kagome, making a step forward. Immediately, Sesshomaru tensed noticeably. Kagome was sure that if she came too close, he will be able to strike her down with one swing of his claws despite his sorry current state.

Instead of the answer, Sesshomaru growled. While Kagome wasn't able to say what kind of a youkai he was before, now she was sure it was not an herbivore.

"Listen," she started, making another step forward - carefully and showing her free hands as unthreateningly as she could. "I swore to help people in need, and I don't know what others think, but in my book youkai are surely count as 'people'. So, if you just let me check on that wound..."

"This Sesshomaru doesn't need help," he grit back, making Kagome chew on her lip in thought. Sesshomaru reminded her of a wounded animal that wasn't letting anyone get close because of its pain. That, unfortunately, only strengthened her resolve to help him. ' _And even if he doesn't die from this wound, what if someone else stumbles upon him? Even a child could kill him now!_ ' came another thought to Kagome's head.

"No he does," said Kagome with another step forward. One more step and Sesshomaru probably will be able to reach her with his claws. "I can help you heal faster. That way you will be in less risk of someone else stumbling on you and actually finishing you off."

Her words were met with another glare, but after few long, stretching seconds of trying to burn a hole in her without any youki, Sesshomaru turned his head to the side. Kagome decided to risk it and take it as a gesture of an agreement. She made another step forward slowly, and when Sesshomaru didn't made a movement to attack, lowered to sit down near him and look at his wound.

It was deep and long, surrounded by dried and fresh blood that made her fingers itch a little when Kagome carefully peeled surrounding clothes and pieces of broken armor away. She could see tensing of his muscles and feel twitching of his aura when she did that, but there were no other signs of Sesshomaru's pain. But it should have been horrible. Kagome could see pieces of sliced ribs, collarbone and lung - this was definitely a slashing wound, but Kagome have never seen a sword that could make a wound like this one. If there was one, it should have probably looked like a giant butchering cleaver. A human with a wound like this would have been dead long ago. With a youkai Kagome wasn't sure about anything.

She stood up and immediately met unreadable stare of Sesshomaru.

"I will need to return to my camp to get bandages, water and ointments for your wound. It won't take long," without waiting for an answer, Kagome began to carefully step backwards from Sesshomaru. She only turned his back to him when she was sure that he can't see her, and then immediately wiped nervous sweat from her brow with a sleeve.

' _Damn_ ,' she thought, making a trek back to camp. ' _Ungrateful patients are_ the worst _._ "

***

An hour and a short conversation about a wounded, but very touchy person with Haruko later, Kagome finished wrapping last of the bandage around Sesshomaru torso. Now that he was cleaned of both blood and upper half of his clothes, Kagome was free to notice his chiseled physique and skin that was as smooth and free of any possible blemishes or birthmarks (besides the wound, that is) as best silks. Yes, Kagome had seen quite a lot of skin and bodies in her time as a healer and a priestess, but this was a first time she was in such proximity to a half-naked _youkai_ male. It seemed that he was just as perfect everywhere as he was on the face - and his face could have belonged to a statue.

It was well-proportioned, with noble features and completely symmetrical besides the crescent mark on the forehead. Face that could have never belonged to a human, with no hints of stubble or a pore too big. Kagome only caught herself staring when her eyes meet annoyed gaze of the face's owner.

"What situation you are assessing now, priestess?" Sesshomaru said unamusedly. These were his first words since Kagome left him to get her medical supplies. Now she blushed and hurriedly scrambled away. ' _Damn youkai! Why they all must be so pretty? I really feel inadequate there._ '

"It doesn't matter!" Kagome squealed before straightening up and regaining her composure. "I am done here for now. In the morning, before I leave this place, I am going to change your bandages and bring you some food and water. Don't go anywhere before then! Even if you can!"

Judging by Sesshomaru's face he wasn't going to listen to her if he could.

"This Sesshomaru doesn't eat human food," was his only reply before he turned his head away and proceeded to ignore Kagome completely. She decided to be optimistic and read it as a positive signal - this probably meant that Sesshomaru decided that she wasn't a threat to him, which was a first step to trust! Though, it's not like Kagome was going to be near him long enough to gain it or was even interested in that. She just preferred to be friends with people, not enemies.

"Well, good night," she said with an awkward wave of her hand before going back to her own place of sleep.

***

Next morning Kagome found Sesshomaru at the same place as before. His aura was now meticulously hidden inside his body, and if she didn't knew what to look for, she wouldn't have even noticed it. Besides that, she looked just like when she left him yesterday. She couldn't tell if he slept any this night or not, but immediately decided that if he decided not to, it was only his fault and foolishness. He only glanced at her once, when she stepped on the clearing, before turning away, and after getting this wordless signal she fearlessly came closer and knelt next to him. She offered him some rice and water from her own breakfast, but he refused both, and Kagome moved on to his wound with a shrug. She really didn't know much about what youkai ate, after all.

"Fascinating," Kagome couldn't help but say after unwrapping the dirty bandage and cleaning the wound from old blood. "Wound is closed already, and it seems that bones also started to mend. Though I still recommend you to rest for at least a couple of days, Sesshomaru-san."

"This Sesshomaru is a no weak man, priestess" noted Sesshomaru with a hint of smugness. Kagome snorted in annoyance.

"Hey, if you can call yourself by name, you can do the same for me, _youkai_ ," she grumbled while wrapping a clean strip of cloth over Sesshomaru's well-built chest.

"Not unless you share it, priestess," he answered with a smirk. Kagome froze with bandage in her hands and started to remember their dialogues with increasing mortification. First she was too worried about Sesshomaru's possible attack... Then his wound... Then... Then... Then she completely forgot! 'Earth, please, open up and swallow me now!'

"K-kagome," she stammered, carefully keeping her eyes anywhere but Sesshomaru's face. Judging by heat on her cheeks she should have looked like a tomato right now. "My name is Kagome."

It gave him a pause, and Kagome felt her mortification going away. Instead of it came wariness. ' _Could it be that he has also heard?.._ '

"Priestess named Kagome, most powerful and pure in all land... And a keeper of the Shikon no Tama," said Sesshomaru without a hint of an emotion in his voice. Kagome drew away, rising her palms. If he moved, she will be able to purify him in a moment. He turned his head towards her then, and stared her in the eye. "It seems to be true. Hm. Then be glad that this Sesshomaru has no interest in it and its power."

He blinked slowly and Kagome dared to put her hands down. He could have been just trying to get her unaware, and maybe Kagome was too naive, but she felt that Sesshomaru was above lies. He seemed to be too noble for it. His clothes surely were clothes of a nobleman - all fine silks and beautiful embroidery. Too bad his kosode was ruined.

"Well," she chuckled nervously and returned to re-wrapping Sesshomaru's wound. "If that so, then we both are lucky today."

He didn't condescended to answer that, and Kagome felt too nervous and tense in his presence to fill the silence with her usual small talk. Thankfully, he didn't make any even remotely threatening motions, or Kagome would have probably burned him on accident or something.

Finally, Kagome made a neat knot on the bandage and put rest of her supplies in her bag. It was time to her to go. It was also a bit of a pity that she didn't had an opportunity to learn more about Sesshomaru and his kind - usually youkai either run away from her in fear or attacked. And not let her heal them. But even despite his (not at all) cordial attitude, Sesshomaru didn't seem to be in a mood to entertain Kagome's questions.

"A-a-and... Goodbye, I guess, Sesshomaru-san" drawled Kagome, slowly backing away from half-lying figure of Sesshomaru. He inclined his head in a hint of a nod for a second. Kagome waved her hand, before turning her back to him and starting to go away. "Bye-e-e!"

Despite lack of even a word of thanks, Kagome felt that her efforts were appreciated at least somewhat. And her conscience was happy that she helped another person in need. So even when midday they were attacked by a wild boar youkai (killed with one charged with reiki swing of Kagome's bow) that was, probably, not even after Shikon, her mood did not declined.


	2. Unusual guests

Besides a Sesshomaru encounter, Kagome's last patrol over the three villages nearest to Ryokami shrine went without any notable accidents. She told Haruko, eventually, about 'mysterious patient' she met in the woods, and while shocked at first to learn that he was a youkai, Haruko took the story quite well. That was one of the things Kagome liked about her - she wasn't prejudiced against youkai, she was only prejudiced against men. But with her life this didn't came as a big surprise.

Now, a week later, Kagome returned to her mountain shrine again. It was her safe ground thanks to all protective spells and barriers, and while she wasn't completely safe even there - evil human still could pass through, and most powerful youkai in theory too - Kagome was glad to be able to relax somewhat.

She hummed happily, mixing a stew that was boiling in a pot with her chopsticks. Yesterday villagers from hamlet just at the bottom of the mountain brought her some fresh cabbages in exchange for protective ofudas, and now Kagome was looking forward towards trying them out in a stew.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a pinprick of an unfamiliar auras coming to the edge of the shrine's barriers. One was decidedly holy - definitely a monk or a priestess, and quite a powerful one, probably almost as powerful as Kagome herself. Another was demonic in nature, but as if not quite. Both auras were mostly calm, and if those two came together... They were a strange couple indeed.

But for now Kagome kept to her stew. Visitors could wait, at least until...

"Kagome-sama! Kagome-sama! There are a priestess and a youkai at the shine's gate!" cried out Haruko, barreling into small kitchen. Kagome stood up with a small smile and put her chopsticks away. She was less hungry for cabbages than she was curious for a youkai travelling with a holy person.

"Watch the stew, please, Haruko-chan," she said, before going towards the strange couple.

She saw them as soon as she stepped outside of small shrine house that was a home for her and Haruko. They were a decidedly noticeable duo, with bright red of youkai clothes and red and white of a priestess' garb. Both stayed at the gates, not going past the barrier, probably out of consideration for the youkai.

When Kagome came closer, she noticed three more things. First, youkai had the cutest dog ears on his head. In fact, they were so cute, that Kagome put her hands in fists to not reach to them. Secondly, he was quite pretty on the face, but _human_ -pretty. Far away from unnatural perfection of Sesshomaru's face that Kagome doubted she could forget even years later (though now that she thought about it, they had the same silver-colored hair!). And last, but not least, a priestess near youkai looked like a complete replica of Kagome herself. She felt like she was looking at her own reflection.

"K-kikyo?.." stumbled youkai, before coming to his senses. "Wow, you two look just the same!"

"Inuyasha," berated him the priestess, before giving Kagome a polite bow. "My name is Kikyo, and my companion is Inuyasha. We came there from Edo in search of a priestess Kagome. Am I right to presume that this is you?"

"Ah, yes," said Kagome, giving her a bow in return. "I must say, you are quite an unusual couple! Please, come in - those wards weren't made with guests in mind."

She concentrated for a moment, making a barrier to let Inuyasha go through, and led her visitors towards the shrine. This priestess Kikyo seemed to be pure in her aura, and Kagome was quite sure judging by their with Inuyasha dynamics, that if youkai wanted to do something unsavory, she would stop him.

"It's of no inconvenience, Kagome-sama," said Kikyo, stopping in the courtyard. She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a loud shout.

"Kagome-sama! Food is ready!"

'Haruko, I told you to not shout like that with visitors in the shrine!' shouted Kagome back on reflex and closed her eyes in embarrassment. A moment later she opened them again and looked at Kikyo and Inuyasha bashfully.

"As you can hear, I and my apprentice were just sitting down for a dinner. Please, join us, Kikyo-sama, Inuyasha-san. It's much better to praise gods on full stomach, isn't it?" joked Kagome.

"We are most grateful for invitation, Kagome-sama," Kikyo smiled back good-naturedly, and Inuyasha seemed to perk up when the word 'food' was first said. Embarrassment was avoided and Kagome went towards kitchen with pep in her step.

***

The four sat together near a fire pit, where a teapot full of water was slowly boiling. Haruko passed everyone bowls full of stew, and for a while silence was only interrupted by Inuyasha's slurping of food and askances for refills. Finally, Kikyo put her empty bowl aside and took a cup of tea in her hands instead, before starting to talk.

"Kagome-sama," she begun unsurely and lowered her eyes. "I am afraid that a request with which I and Inuyasha came here might sound preposterous, so I will only ask you to listen to the end of it before answering."

Kagome, who also finished eating already, looked at Kikyo curiously, before throwing a glance at Inuyasha. Youkai stopped stuffing himself for a moment to listen, and Kagome wondered for a second where all that food fit. She expected stew to last for tomorrow breakfast, but now it was almost finished. Haruko seemed to be quite unhappy with that, and Kagome was sure that only her presence was stopping her from saying anything about this.

"Sure," replied Kagome, returning her attention to Kikyo with a kind smile. "Tell us about it."

"Thank you," gratefully said Kikyo, before drawing air in her lungs and beginning to tell her story. "Kagome-sama, our request was... To let us make a wish on Shikon no Tama, keeper of which you are rumored to be."

Before Kagome could do anything but open her mouth in a shocked gasp, Kikyo continued hurriedly.

"You see, Kagome-sama, I and Inuyasha are in love. But I am human and a priestess; and he is a half-youkai. We heard stories about cursed jewel that grants wishes, and I thought... Was it ever that Shikon no Tama fell into kind hands? Kagome-sama, I am sure that if a good, pure, kind wish was made on Shikon no Tama, it would disappear. So, please, let us wish for Inuyasha to became a human, so we could be together!" the more she said, the more frantic Kikyo became, before she put her tea aside and bowed low to Kagome until her forehead almost touched the tatami floor. After a second pause, Inuyasha with a noticeable reluctance did the same.

For a moment, Kagome felt really bad for them, knowing that she wouldn't be able to grant them their request. Then, when Kikyo and Inuyasha rose back, Kagome steeled her heart for her duty and reminded herself that if the two were truly in love, species barrier shouldn't be stopping them. After all, Inuyasha himself was born somehow (and now Kagome knew why his aura was so strange and his face was so human-like).

Kagome opened her mouth to say her answer, but Haruko beat her to it.

"Preposterous indeed! Even if Shikon no Tama could be destroyed by a wish, I am sure a wish like this one wouldn't be the one to do it! Kikyo-sama, are you truly want to exchange your priesthood for a _marriage_?" last word was said like it was a poison, and Kikyo leaned back, flabbergasted.

"Hey, wench, don't you dare say things like this to Kikyo!" snapped Inuyasha, rising from his place, palm clenched in a threatening fist. Feeling more and more tickled off with each passing second, Kagome closed her eyes for a moment.

"Shut up, everyone!" she barked suddenly and flared her reiki. Quiet returned again, and when she opened her eyes everyone sat on their places like nothing happened. Kagome turned her head to Kikyo.

"I am sorry, Kikyo-sama, but I cannot let you do this. Not all of those stories you heard are true. Shikon no Tama doesn't truly grant wishes, it only promises them, and then manipulates you into desiring things jewel itself wants," she started in a deeply sympathetic voice. When she saw Kikyo's face darken, she hurriedly added. "But if you two are truly in love, why should Inuyasha-san's ancestry stop you?"

"I... Understand, Kagome-sama," answered Kikyo a bit shakily. She turned towards Inuyasha and they exchanged grim looks silently, before priestess looked at Kagome again and said "Then we are going to leave now."

Kagome wished she could do at least something to ease their pain. Despite her words earlier, she was quite sure that if Kikyo and Inuyasha did decide to marry, people will give a mixed couple lots of grief. In a window she could see a looming twilight.

"Please, stay here for a night," she said suddenly, before her guests could leave the building. "It's late already. Then you will be able to go on your way this morning."

"We are most thankful for your hospitality, Kagome-sama," thanked Kikyo with a bow, while Inuyasha and Haruko were glaring at each other. Kagome was quite sure that only Kikyo's presence was stopping a half-youkai from saying something horribly rude, just like her presence stopped Haruko.

"It's nothing!" said Kagome, rising up and dusting off her hakama, before throwing Haruko a glance that said that when guests will leave their presence, there will be a long and hard talk between them. "Follow me, I will show you to a guest house."

***

This night Kagome hadn't slept well. Her well-earned paranoia flared again and again, making her lie nervously on her futon, waiting and hoping for her own dark premonitions to not come true. When Kagome heard door of the room sliding to the side quietly and then back and almost unnoticeable rustle of cloth, she knew that her paranoia was right again. Knowledge settled on her heart heavily.

She waited patiently, her body relaxed - a perfect picture of a person sleeping soundly. Finally, she felt a barely-hidden aura come beside her and could almost feel someone's breath on her cheek. Then, Kagome moved.

A moment later she sat on her futon, knife that was lying under her pillow now in hand and almost piercing a neck of the intruder. Even in the dark his silhouette with two dog ears perking on his head was unmistakable. His hand was holding her own in a tight grip, not letting Kagome to move a knife further even if she wanted to. His other hand was holding Kagome's neck threateningly.

"What are you _doing_ , Inuyasha-san?" almost growled Kagome, keeping her powers in check to not purify the half-breed on the spot. Why, oh why Shikon was so enticing? Why people couldn't resist call of its power better? And what's was the worst, Kagome knew that jewel's barriers were stopping its aura from seeping through, so she couldn't even blame people's greed on it.

"I am sorry, priestess, but I am sure you were wrong," Inuyasha whispered angrily, clenching Kagome's wrist until she dropped the knife in pain. "I will make a wish and Shikon no Tama will disappear and I with Kikyo will live happily!"

"I told you already, this will not work!" Kagome replied exasperatedly and flared her power. Suddenly, Inuyasha jerked his hands away from her, as if burned - and he was burned now by her reiki. He growled low and dangerous.

"I do not want to fight you, so just give me the jewel, or else..." he threatened, and Kagome narrowed her eyes in response, calculating her chances. Half-youkai was strong and fast, her weapon was on the floor, and she was quite sure that if she tried to purify him there will still be his human half left. But she was also quite sure that Kikyo didn't know anything about Inuyasha's current plan.

"There will be no 'else', Inuyasha!" exclaimed Kagome, putting her reiki in a protective barrier around herself. "Leave the shrine and never return!"

With a growl, Inuyasha tried to attack again, but his claws bounced off from a barrier harmlessly. It was then that door to the room opened with a loud thump and another silhouette, drenched in moonlight, was seen in the doorway.

"Inuyasha! How dare you to betray our hosts like that?" shouted Kikyo. Kagome could see that she only just woke up - her hair was unbound and sleep-tossed and she was wearing only a night yukata. Instantly, Inuyasha turned to her. Kagome couldn't see his facial expression, but his ears were flattened to his head.

"Kikyo, I was..." Inuyasha stepped back from Kagome and towards Kikyo. She pursed her lips and looked back at him coldly.

"Leave now, Inuyasha," she said sternly, before adding more softly. "We will talk about it tomorrow."

Inuyasha made a sound that was closest to a whine, before going away past Kikyo with head bowing low in shame. Kagome felt his turbulent aura moving slowly on shrine grounds towards the gate. She dissolved the glowing barrier around her, relaxing a little bit. Now that her adrenaline began to wear off, Kagome felt decidedly shaken.

"I am deeply apologizing for Inuyasha's actions, Kagome-sama," suddenly said Kikyo, lowering down on the floor in seiza to make a deep bow towards Kagome. "I should have watched him better. He... acts without thinking sometimes. I will leave now too. Please... Do not think too badly about him."

Kagome sighed heavily. She didn't know much about Inuyasha, but he did not felt truly evil to her. Rude and a bit spiky, like a hedgehog, but she had easily seen his feelings for Kikyo in his glances and protectiveness. Sadly, good intentions did not always led to good actions. Still, Kikyo wasn't in fault for Inuyasha's actions, and letting her to travel down from a mountain at night was just cruel.

"I accept your apologies, Kikyo-sama. Please, stay in the shrine until morning. You wouldn't want to travel in the dark," Kagome said, smiling slightly. Kikyo, now standing up again, looked disbelieving for a moment, before smiling thankfully in response, thanking Kagome again and leaving her alone to pick up her knife and go back to sleep.

Lying down on her futon, Kagome thought with a slight envy about Haruko, who slept in a room next to her own and still didn't wake up despite the noise. She just hoped that rest of her sleep will be better now.

***

It wasn't. Not really, at least. Yes, at first Kagome slept quite soundly now that Inuyasha was outside of the barrier and was not going back anytime soon, but in the morning her sleep was rudely interrupted by loud blast somewhere far away that was accompanied by a wild whirl of youki. Before any coherent thought came to her head Kagome was running out of the shrine house with her bow in hand and quiver on the back. Youki continued to flare erratically somewhere in the forest near shrine, like in a battle, and spooked birds cawed loudly in the skies above.

"This was one of Inuyasha's attacks!" was heard from the side of the guest house. Turning her head, Kagome could see Kikyo, just as disheveled as Kagome herself probably was in the moment, looking with worry to the direction of the far away fight. "I must help him."

She run off without saying anything else, and Kagome, before throwing a glance to the direction where Haruko was still sleeping (oh, such luck) and deciding that her apprentice was safer there, run after her.


	3. A great day to not die

Dawn was barely there yet, but first rays of sun gave two priestesses enough light to run through forest without stumbling on shrubbery and tree roots. Soon after they left the shrine another blast was heard, and Kagome couldn't help but shudder a bit from its power. If this was Inuyasha's attack, then he was much more powerful than she thought at first.

Finally, Kagome and Kikyo came to the wide clearing, which, judging by trees lying in splinters left and right, wasn't that wide yesterday. Before them a heated battle could be seen, with two fighters moving so fast that at first Kagome could only see two clashing blurs, one red and one white, coming together and apart and together again.

While Kagome was thinking what to do (this seemed to be not her fight, not to mention that she couldn't even tell for sure who was fighting, though now _both_ auras seemed to be very familiar), Kikyo was acting already.

"Get away from him, Sesshomaru!" she shouted, sending her charged arrow flying towards white blur with a twang of a bowstring. Before Kagome could put two and two together in her head, the blur stopped suddenly with an arrow caught from the thin air in his clawed hand. Few steps away Inuyasha stood as well, panting heavily. In his hand was most gigantic sword Kagome had ever seen (and one that surely wasn't with him before, though a sword that was on his belt yesterday was now mysteriously missing from its scabbard).

' _Well, at least I can say for sure that he healed well,_ ' though Kagome with a sheepish smile. She didn't knew what was those two's problem with each other, but considering that shape and size of Inuyasha's sword were perfectly aligned with Sesshomaru's wound from week ago, it was easy to tell that this wasn't their first fight against each other. And while Kikyo allegiances were very clear, she herself wasn't as sure about what to do. Not after helping Sesshomaru and not after Inuyasha's attempt of thievery.

Sesshomaru himself looked annoyed. Arrow melt in his hand, as if burned by acid, before he shook remnants of it away and turned to Inuyasha, who was now moving around him to stand between Sesshomaru and priestesses. Besides being winded, half-youkai seemed suffer only from a few bruises and scratches. Sesshomaru, in comparison, looked pristine, though he had a thin scratch of his own on his cheek.

"Tell to your priestess to not interfere in our fight if she wants to live, half-breed. This Sesshomaru will not be hit by her attacks again," he said haughtily, before moving his eyes to Kagome. "The same goes to you too."

Kagome tried to not be afraid under Sesshomaru's cold glare. She wondered what sort of poison ran through his claws that could do such things with wood. Still, she knew also that no matter who will lose this fight, her conscience will not allow her to just watch him die.

"Go away, Kikyo, Kagome," gritted Inuyasha. "This is our business."

"I will not, Inuyasha," answered Kikyo with determination in her voice. She took another arrow from her quiver and aimed for Sesshomaru over Inuyasha's shoulders.

"Why are you two even fighting?" couldn't help but ask Kagome. "Could you, please, not to?"

"He is just an asshole, that's why," grumbled Inuyasha. "No way in hell I am going to let him go away again!"

Sesshomaru, thankfully, was much more eloquent, though just as willing to end fighting.

"Inuyasha's existence is a stain on the honor of this Sesshomaru's family that could only be washed away by blood," he said, before charging ahead on Inuyasha with claws raised and glowing sickly green. "Which this Sesshomaru will gladly spill!"

And onslaught continued with ringing of steel and clashing of energies. Kikyo stood with a bow ready to shoot, but couldn't seem to be able to take aim - this time fighters weren't separating even for a moment and Kagome herself wasn't sure in her ability to shoot any of them without hitting another as well. ' _If only there was some way to stop their fighting! But I wonder, are they related or something?.._ '

Sesshomaru's attacks seemed to be concentrated on Inuyasha's sword hand. To Kagome's surprise, despite having a sword on his belt, he was fighting only with his claws. Not that this was holding Sesshomaru down much. He was also noticeably faster and stronger, and it seemed to be only a matter of time before he would be victorious. Kagome could see Kikyo biting her lip nervously and noticed with a slight embarrassment that she was doing just the same. Suddenly, Inuyasha screamed in pain after another merciless strike of his enemy's claws and his giant sword flew away from him, spinning wildly. It hit one of the trees on the edge of the clearing with a loud thud and with a hiss changed its shape to this of a normal, if a very beaten one, katana.

"Inuyasha!" exclaimed Kikyo, shooting towards Sesshomaru again, now that he stopped for a moment above his disarmed opponent. When the arrow hit a tree somewhere on the opposite side of the clearing, Sesshomaru was already in front of Kikyo with his claws raised for attack.

"No!" shouted Kagome. In this moment, she realized with unbound determination what her goal was for today - to not let anyone there die. She raised her bow and channeled her reiki through it, creating a barrier around two priestesses. It shook and rippled under the power of the claws that descended on it, but held well.

"Woman..." growled Sesshomaru menacingly. Kagome glowered back.

"I am not letting you all kill each other here. Whatever are problems between you, just stop right there, you hear me?!" she answered defiantly and channeled more power into her barrier. Another growl was heard then, and it took Kagome a moment to realize that it wasn't coming from Sesshomaru, but from somewhere behind him. Sesshomaru sniffed the air, before turning back to Inuyasha with a surprise clearly seen on his face.

"Your scent changed, half-breed... Can it be your demonic blood finally taking hold?" Sesshomaru wondered aloud. Only answer to him was another angry growl. From where she stood behind Sesshomaru Kagome couldn't see anything because of his flowing sleeves and fluffy pelt, so she made a careful step to the side and peeked at Inuyasha. Near her, Kikyo was doing the same.

Inuyasha looked different from just before. His right wrist was covered in burns so horrible that Kagome could see bones, and he held it carefully to the side, but that wasn't most noticeable thing. His eyes were completely different - not yellow like before, but blue on blood red instead. His cheeks were adorned with jagged stripes similar to those of Sesshomaru, and all in all, he seemed to be completely wild.

"Sesshomaru... Kill!" Inuyasha growled before jumping towards Sesshomaru for another fight sequence. The latter readily indulged him, dodging half-youkai blows and striking with his own.

"You may be faster now, but you are way too reckless to win against this Sesshomaru, Inuyasha," with disdain noticed Sesshomaru after another one of his blows send Inuyasha flying into a tree. "Truly, a nature's mistake."

When Inuyasha didn't rose from the ground he fell upon, Kikyo gasped and run towards him. Sesshomaru looked at this with contempt and no seeming desire to interfere, and a second later Kagome joined Kikyo ready to help her in healing or to protect her from Sesshomaru. Kagome didn't knew his reasons for inaction, but mentally thanked Sesshomaru for not finishing a fallen opponent off anyway.

When the two priestesses reached Inuyasha, he was lying in heap with his eyes closed. Jagged stripes still adorned his cheeks, but Kikyo ignored that in favor of opening his clothes to check on his wounds (ribs definitely broken, right kidney might or might have not busted, noted Kagome herself). Kagome stood above her with a barrier around three of them raised just in case, throwing careful glances at Sesshomaru. He seemed to be curious and expectant somehow, as if waiting for something to happen.

Then Kagome turned her head back to Inuyasha and saw him open his bloodshot eyes. He looked at Kikyo over him and his left hand twitched. Deep sense of foreboding washed over Kagome and she moved to pull Kikyo away from where she was tearing Inuyasha's inner tunic for temporary bandages. And just in time - his claws swished through air right where Kikyo head was.

"Inuyasha?" with disbelief on her face asked Kikyo, rising from the ground. Before her Kagome was raising her bow to defend from Inuyasha's next attack, but it was too late. Before she managed to put another shield of reiki before her or at least raise her hands, half-youkai struck, his claws tearing through flimsy cloth of Kagome's night yukata, skin, bones and muscle like they were nothing. A horrible pain washed over her chest together with a feeling of something horrible, abominable, terrible seeping through her bloodstream, and then she hit the ground and a pain in her head was added to that.

Above her Kagome could hear screams and sounds of fight. Someone buzzed right under her ear something about demon blood and Tessaiga, but her vision went dark long before she could see a source of an unfamiliar voice. And then the same dark consumed Kagome's last thought.


	4. Burning blood

To her great surprise Kagome woke up. It wasn't her best awakening, sure – her chest hurt, her head ached, her mouth was dry as a desert, she was _starving_ and blood in her veins felt strangely vile, and all in all Kagome would have given it at most three out of ten, but it was there. And seen that when she was losing consciousness Kagome was sure that she was dying, that was quite an achievement.

Grudgingly, Kagome managed to tear her stuck from sleep eyes open and look around. She seemed to be lying in her own room. Nearby she noticed Haruko quietly sewing something under an open window. Kagome tried to call her, but managed only a raspy groan that soon became a series of dry coughs. That, though, managed to reach its original purpose anyway.

"Kagome-sama! You woke up!" Haruko cried out with tears in her eyes, dropping her sewing and scrambling closer to Kagome's bed. "I was so afraid! You weren't waking up for three days!"

"Water," managed to rasp Kagome after her cough went away, and Haruko hurriedly brought to her a cup. Kagome even found in her some strength to hold it in her hands, even though Haruko needed to hold her head up before she actually managed to drink anything. But water made life suddenly much, much better, even despite the strange burning in her blood. And now Kagome could talk.

"What happened?"

"I woke up when Kikyo-sama together with Inuyasha brought you, with that horrible wound in your chest, to the shrine. They told me that there was a fight with another youkai in the forest this morning and you were wounded there and needed help. Together with Kikyo we bandaged your wounds while Inuyasha stayed outside. Kikyo-sama wanted to stay and wait until you wake up, but… I was sure that they weren't telling me everything. And that Inuyasha couldn't pass the shrine's gates because you kicked him out. All in all, they were way too suspicious, so I told him to go away as soon as your state became stable," told her tale Haruko. Her last words were spoken with noticeable smugness. "And, Kagome-sama, Shikon no Tama was gone when they brought you! I was afraid they stole it, but was afraid to call them on that…" added Haruko with shame. Kagome tried to reassure her with a smile, even if smiling was the last thing she wanted.

"Don't worry, Haruko-chan. I am sure it will work out… somehow. Right now I just need some rest and food. Gods, I am starving!"

"Just wait a minute, Kagome-sama, I will bring you some rice porridge!" said Haruko before running out of the room.

Rest of the day was spent in napping, eating and attempts to put events of the bad morning three days ago together. Kagome retold Haruko what she remembered of it. She remembered well how Inuyasha went berserk. Seeing that he brought her back to the shrine it seemed that he snapped out of it eventually. And what became of Sesshomaru? And where Shikon no Tama disappeared? Kagome was regretting that Haruko send Kikyo and Inuyasha away – those two surely had at least some answers.

It was late in the evening when Haruko came to her room again with an alarmed expression on her face.

"Kagome-sama, there is a strange man at the shrine gates asking entry! I am sure he is a youkai! Actually," Haruko seemed to be in thought. "He very resembles your description of a man who you healed on our last journey."

"Huh?" Kagome blurted in surprise. Sesshomaru? What was his business with her? Still, he was there when she got an injury that put her in the bed for three (four now and Kagome was quite sure she will not have strength to get up tomorrow) days, so he must know something. Even if seeing him in such vulnerable state as Kagome was in was a huge risk. "Bring him there, please, Haruko-chan."

"Are you sure?" Haruko frowned. "I wouldn't trust him even if you helped him before."

"I am sure, Haruko," Kagome said with determination in her voice. "He might even know where Shikon is now. He is the youkai that fought Inuyasha."

Last statement did not seem to make Haruko any more trusting of Sesshomaru, but she didn't argued anymore. While she went to fetch the youkai, Kagome concentrated on making the barrier around the shrine let him through. It was… noticeably harder than before. Kagome wasn’t sure what the main reason was for it – her tiredness, pain of the wound, or the strange burn in her veins. But she succeeded, even if she could only feel Sesshomaru's aura when he touched the barrier.

A minute later he came in, and suddenly a nice, spacious room started to feel small. Even putting aside his lush garments, Sesshomaru's presence was filling all space around him like some sort of poisonous gas. Even man-hater Haruko seemed to be more afraid of him than prejudiced, though despite her fear she stayed in the room near Kagome.

"Hello, Sesshomaru-san," greeted him Kagome from where she was half-lying on a pile of pillows brought by Haruko earlier. "Our positions are reversed now, aren't they?" she chuckled on her own joke and was glad to notice a spark of amusement in Sesshomaru's eyes before he leaned over her and took in a deep breath. It took a moment to Kagome to realize that he was sniffing her. ' _Now that I think about it, if he is Inuyasha's relative, could it be that he is also a dog demon?_ '

"No. Unlike you, this Sesshomaru wasn't dying," he replied after he stood straight again. If her blood wasn't burning right now Kagome was sure it would feel cold in her veins. Near her, Haruko paled.

"What? Kagome-sama can't just die! And her wound looks better than before!" she shouted indignantly.

"Your wounds will heal, but your blood is changed forever, priestess," Sesshomaru decidedly ignored Haruko who seemed to be too concerned over Kagome to even notice. She herself was almost too concerned over herself to notice!

"What does that even mean?" Kagome asked with a feeling of growing dread. Was that why her blood felt like it was burning? "And what happened with the Shikon no Tama? Did Inuyasha take it? And why you came here?"

"So many questions, priestess," Sesshomaru actually smirked and Kagome glowered at him a bit. He seemed to be completely unsympathetic towards her plight. Still, he answered. "This Sesshomaru is there to satisfy his curiosity. Your situation is unique and this Sesshomaru wishes to see how it will end."

Kagome glowered stronger. ' _I should have realized this long before. He is a complete jerk! Still, at least I have chance to get some answers from him.'_

"So what happened?" she asked impatiently.

"The strike of a half-breed seemed to lounge Shikon no Tama straight into your heart. After that this Sesshomaru knocked Inuyasha out before he did any more damage and his priestess tried to bandage your wounds. At first she thought you to be dead, but it seemed that the jewel did not let you leave the mortal plane despite your wounds, and the priestess was too afraid to kill you on accident to take it out. This Sesshomaru left you then, but stayed nearby. Before half-breed and his priestess left the shrine I overheard them talking about Shikon no Tama dissolving in your chest without a trace," Sesshomaru told with little to no emotion in his voice. "And now that you woke up this Sesshomaru came to check upon it himself."

For a while both Haruko and Kagome stayed silent, thinking over this story. Carefully, Kagome put a hand over her heart. It was beating strong, moving her strange blood over her veins, but there wasn't even a hint of Shikon's unmistakable power.

"At least I will not need to go and search for this cursed stone anywhere," Kagome tried to be optimistic, but didn't really succeed. "And what about my blood, Sesshomaru-san? And me _dying_?"

"Yeah, what about that?" Haruko added with her lips pursed in worry.

"You seem now to suffer from the same ailment as Inuyasha, despite being a human and a priestess," answered Sesshomaru with a light chuckle. "This Sesshomaru can smell and feel youkai blood and youki in your veins, but your body is that of a human. This Sesshomaru is sure that just like half-breed you will fall victim of that imbalance eventually, running amok until dying from wounds or lack of rest."

"Youkai blood?" Kagome wouldn’t have believed it if not for her sorry state. "Hey! Inuyasha managed to calm down eventually, isn’t he? So maybe I will be able to avoid it too!"

"Inuyasha," the name was said with a greater amount of disdain than usual. "Had a sword made from a fang of his father that sealed his demonic blood." Words 'and you have not' went unsaid. Kagome lowered her eyes in thought. ' _That was probably this giant cleaver... He went berserk because it was thrown out of his hand. What a strange form of seal – a sword. Hm-m, seals…_ '

"But I am a priestess. Surely I can seal my own youkai blood, right?" she said with a sudden twinge of hope. Sesshomaru shrugged his shoulders.

"This Sesshomaru will gladly watch you try."

Kagome couldn’t decide if this statement meant that Sesshomaru didn't believe in her success or just that he was curious of the result. His face didn’t show anything. She leaned her head back on the pillows tiredly.

"I wonder how this change even happened and why Shikon no Tama disappeared…" she thought aloud. Sesshomaru looked upon her with curiosity in his piercing yellow eyes.

"Tell this Sesshomaru, priestess, what do you know of Shikon," he asked before sitting down near her and across Haruko, who also looked at Kagome with interest. The girl was told the story of the jewel already, but she liked Kagome's stories a lot.

"It's Kagome and you know it," grumbled Kagome quietly, before closing her eyes for a second to remember the tale. "The jewel was created a long, long time ago… about half of a millennia, actually."

"This Sesshomaru first heard about it six centuries ago," added Sesshomaru.

"Wow, you are that old? You seem to be younger than Kagome-sama!" exclaimed Haruko with a surprise. Sesshomaru threw her a nasty look before continuing to ignore the girl. Kagome coughed to attract attention before continuing to retell the story just like she heard it once from an old youkai slayer.

"Legend says that at the time there lived a priestess named Midoriko, which purity was so strong that she was able to destroy ten thousands of youkai at the same time with it. She was undefeated by any, until an evil human, enchanted by her beauty and kindness decided to take her for himself. For that he sold his soul to a horde of youkai, becoming a creature of both evil and power never seen before. He fought Midoriko for seven days and seven nights, until she realized that she was unable to win the battle. Then she plunged straight into her adversary's jaws and sealed him into her own heart, which crystallized and became Shikon no Tama. I was told that since that time Midoriko's spirit continued to fight against the youkai horde and a state of the battle depended on the purity of the jewel's holder. This is why I was tasked with keeping it," after story this long Kagome's throat felt dry. Thankfully, Haruko seemed to understand her need without words and soon put a cup of water into her hands. "Thank you, Haruko-chan."

Sesshomaru inclined his head to the side in a decidedly animalistic gesture, thinking silently. Kagome nervously waited for him to finish the thought. Even Haruko looked at him with curiosity and was keeping her mouth shut despite the silence stretching for longer and longer. Finally, after what felt like forever, he said:

"This Sesshomaru would have thought that your body absorbed the jewel and with it the power that was held inside, if you had more reiki than before, but you do not. But this Sesshomaru noticed that the strength of your new youki seems to be exactly equal of that of your reiki."

Kagome frowned. Last statement felt important to her somehow, like there was some conclusion which it should help reach. ' _In Shikon no Tama youkai fought against the priestess. And now it disappeared… Say, if it really was absorbed in my body, then my youkai blood comes from all of youkai inside of the jewel. But where Midoriko's soul could have went then? Shouldn’t she be fighting all those youkai? But then… if my own reiki is enough to counterbalance them… then she wasn't needed anymore, wasn’t she? Does that mean that her soul moved on? That_ my body _is the jewel now?'_ Theory seemed to be more and more valid and scary with each passing minute.

"What if Midoriko's soul passed on?" asked Kagome aloud. "Could it be?"

Sesshomaru shrugged. He seemed to be out of his words quota for a week. Kagome sighed heavily. ' _Don't sigh, Kagome, they say that luck escapes with every sigh! And you seem to be completely out of it already.'_

"Well, either way, thank you, Sesshomaru-san," she smiled to the youkai gratefully. Despite his cold motivation, Sesshomaru's answers and advices helped her a lot. "You can stay in the guest house if you want to. And I will make sure that shrine's wards will let you through if you will want to go out and back."

"This Sesshomaru will stay outside of the shrine," he answered before rising up and leaving the room without another word. When a door slid closed after him Haruko shook her head sadly.

"What an injustice that a face this pretty and a hair so fine belong to a man," she said. Kagome couldn’t help but giggle.

"Yes, when I first seen him I couldn’t even tell at first if he was a man or a woman," she added. "But his chest was decidedly male."

Now was Haruko's turn to giggle before she turned serious again.

"I hope you will turn out fine, Kagome-sama," she said. "You shouldn’t leave shrine grounds until you do, even when your wound will heal more."

"But what about the villages? People need me there…"

"We will think of something," Haruko replied. Kagome wasn’t so sure about it, but stayed silent. She still needed not to die from her youkai blood after all.


	5. The changeling

The changeling

Next day Sesshomaru returned to sniff Kagome again. He didn't bothered with greetings or explanations of what he was doing, but Kagome started to think that this was quite normal for him. Still, sudden proximity was a bit awkward when he did that. Twice as so because of lack of her loyal chaperone Haruko's presence in the room at the moment. She was busy with cleaning the shrine grounds.

"Your smell continues to change," Sesshomaru noted after returning to a more appropriate distance. "How curious. Priestess, let me take some of your blood."

Kagome looked at him suspiciously. There were many things one with the power could make with someone's blood. ' _But he asked first instead of just taking it. This is probably just another part of his observations, right?_ ' Sesshomaru glared at het impatiently, and Kagome decided that there were low chances that she could be cursed even worse than she was now.

"All right," she nodded to him and Sesshomaru neared once again, taking her palm in his warm clawed hand carefully. With a slight pinprick of pain youkai punctured her forefinger with a claw and squeezed a few drops of blood on a handkerchief. Then, when Kagome though that the procedure was over, he suddenly put her hand to his mouth and licked the small wound.

"W-what are you doing?" she stammered, hurriedly taking her hand back and trying to contain her blush. When Sesshomaru just smirked instead of an answer, she glowered back at him.

"The taste of your blood is like nothing this Sesshomaru tasted before," he said more seriously. "It is as if every kind of youkai blended together."

"Well, this confirms the theory about Shikon no Tama's disappearance being the source of my state," nodded Kagome before throwing Sesshomaru another sour look. "But next time, warn me please!"

"This Sesshomaru did," he smirked again before turning his back to her. It was clear that his visit was over and Kagome threw her head on the pillows with a heavy sigh. ' _Gods, why my best help with this curse is that barely sufferable man?_ '

***

Sesshomaru didn’t appeared again for three whole days at the end of which Kagome felt good enough to stand up and walk around a bit. According to Haruko's words this was quite a miracle, and Kagome was suspecting that her youkai blood was helping her to heal faster. She could even almost ignore the feeling of it in her veins now. When her wound would heal completely Kagome was planning on trying to seal it.

When she seen a regal pale figure coming near her, Kagome was spending time on the porch of the shrine house, cutting rags into bandages. She was so absorbed in that, that only noticed her visitor when he was only a step away and sniffing her.

"Hello to you too, Sesshomaru-san," Kagome greeted him a bit jokingly in response and smiled. She started to get used to his strange manners. "How is my scent today?"

"It still continues to change, priestess," Sesshomaru replied with a thoughtful look on this face. "You seem to be healing faster than a human should."

"Ah, yes. I am sure this is because of my youkai blood. At least something good came from all of this, right?" Kagome smiled at Sesshomaru again, but he seemed to be not inclined to share her good mood. "The sooner my wound heals, the sooner I will be able to try and seal my blood!"

Sesshomaru didn’t reply to this, but her words reminded Kagome of something she meant to ask.

"So, Sesshomaru-san, why you were taking it?"

"This Sesshomaru brought the blood to an old flea who knows the most about blood of any kind," he said. "This Sesshomaru was told that the it couldn’t be of any concrete youkai species, but seems to be trying to find itself some definite form. 'Like a man searching for his own face', this Sesshomaru was told," his face and tone of voice showed visible skepticism. Kagome didn’t know enough about youkai to say anything about how truthful those words could have been. Besides burn of her blood and gash in her chest she felt almost normal.

"Thank you for bothering with this, Sesshomaru-san" she said anyway and paused. She meant to ask it earlier, when she just managed to stand up, but then Sesshomaru wasn't there. "Can I ask you to stay near the shrine, please? Now that I can walk around I am afraid that I might…" Kagome trailed off, not wanting to say the words aloud. It was hard for her to accept that at the moment she was a dry pile of gunpowder near a bonfire. Thankfully, Sesshomaru seemed to understand.

"It would be a waste to let your phenomena to die just because you cannot control yourself, priestess," he said, and while there weren’t any promises, Kagome felt much better now. She seen how strong Sesshomaru was; he surely will be able to protect people around her from herself… But she really hoped he wouldn’t need to.

"Thank you, Sesshomaru-san," Kagome bowed to him gratefully from her sitting place, but Sesshomaru was already walking away. She shrugged. He was way too antisocial for her tastes, but she was more and more fine with that.

***

Over the next two weeks that Kagome spend healing, Sesshomaru made himself a constant presence near shrine. Sometimes she could feel his aura passing the shrine's barrier back and forth, and each day he came to take her scent again. Kagome took those times as an opportunity to ask him questions. There were a lot of them, and the more she asked, the more she had to ask. Sesshomaru usually indulged her in one or two a day before just leaving, but even like that Kagome learned a lot about him.

She learned that the sword on his hip was called Tenseiga and couldn’t cut, but could bring people back from the dead. She learned that not only were Sesshomaru and Inuyasha related, they were actually half-brothers and shared the same father. She didn't learned why Sesshomaru didn’t killed Inuyasha that fateful day instead of knocking him out, but was suspecting that despite his bad feelings towards half-youkai Sesshomaru wasn’t that ready to commit the sin of kin slaying. She learned instead that the reason for Sesshomaru to not stop Inuyasha earlier was his wish to see him attack and fight Kikyo, which Kagome found horribly cruel and didn’t even spoke with Sesshomaru for the next day in anger.

Not that this influenced him any. He was still the same cold-hearted jerk of a youkai that despite all of this stayed near her and continued to monitor her state. He even told her that judging by scent of her blood it was, indeed, trying and failing to find a form for itself – form that, whatever it will be, will not be that of a human for sure. Kagome decided not to think about this too much in hope that her sealing will succeed and she will be able to just forget about all that. She was quite fine with being human, thank you!

So instead of talking about her blood Kagome asked Sesshomaru more about him and his family. He was quite tight-lipped on that, but she learned that his father was long dead, but once held a title of the Lord of the Western Lands, that his mother was still living, and that before Sesshomaru came to the Ryokami shrine he was hunting for Inuyasha's sword, Tessaiga, which turned out to be a useless endeavor since the sword was enchanted in such a way that only someone with human blood in his veins could hold it without being burned.

And while Kagome wasn’t sure that Sesshomaru was that interested in this, she felt bad without telling her a bit about herself and Haruko (who didn’t really had an opportunity to talk with the youkai even if she wanted to). She told him about her family of three – grandfather, mother and younger brother – living in faraway shrine that she herself left after being burdened with Shikon no Tama so they wouldn’t be attacked by youkai because of her. She told him how she found her new home in Ryokami shrine, priestess of which decided to marry and go to live with her husband. She told him how two years ago a young Haruko came to the shrine to escape clutches of her beating father and sadistic future husband and lived there as an apprentice priestess since then despite her lack of any spiritual powers.

When to her slight surprise Sesshomaru actually listened to all that, even if his expression was extremely bored one, Kagome felt glad.

***

After two weeks the wound left after itself a huge pink scar, but didn’t hurt anymore, and even Haruko grudgingly considered Kagome to be completely healthy before adding with envy that a normal human would have spent a month with bandages after getting a wound like this one. Kagome only replied that a normal human would have just died.

And now that Kagome was healed, everything was prepared for the sealing ritual. Normally Kagome could conduct simple sealing with just some item to hold her power - an arrow or an ofuda - but she felt that today she will need to have an additional boost. There was circle around her made of blessed salt, holy relics of the shrine were lying nearby – a pearl and a fan that once were in Ryokami's possession and still held some of his power – and Sesshomaru was standing quietly in a corner of the room just in case. Haruko was sent away – she would be of no help besides fetching things anyway.

Drawing a breath, Kagome plastered an ofuda on her own forehead and started to chant, concentrating on her reiki. She sealed things many times before, and usually it was easier than purifying them – it was like working with an additional leverage. But she never before tried seal something inside of her own body and it was much, much harder. It took some time for Kagome to even locate and surround with her reiki all the youki that she wanted to contain. It felt like it was everywhere, filling every bit of her body, hiding from her eyes under a gloss of reiki but always _there_. Sealing and putting it away felt like trying to gather her own intestines and deposit them into jars.

But after a while Kagome felt like she was succeeding. She pushed onto her youki, trying to put it far, far away, dampen it as much as she could, when it suddenly started to fight her back. It flared wildly and pushed back, stronger than it was before, and now Kagome's reiki was dampened and her blood felt even hotter in her veins than before. It felt like a molten metal, so painful that she cried out involuntarily and felt her tears sliding down her cheeks. Even those felt hot.

Next few minutes were a blur. Kagome remembered the feeling of pain and knowledge that the only way to make it even a bit better was to destroy something. Anything. She remembered how her senses suddenly came on her all together with a flurry of unseen colors, unheard sounds and unfelt smells, and how she hit wildly at the wooden floor just because it was nearest destructible thing. The strike left four huge claw marks and didn’t hurt her hand at all. Then she remembered a pale figure pinning her down and how she clawed wildly at it until it hit her in the head and her memories ended.

When Kagome woke up again she was lying on futon in her room with already long-familiar feeling of burning in her veins and not-so-familiar pain in her head. This time, both Haruko and Sesshomaru were present.

"Kagome-sama, you are alright! Please, tell me how sealing went – this insufferable man doesn’t want to tell me anything!" exclaimed Haruko when Kagome opened her eyes.

"Haruko-chan… How long I was out?" said Kagome weakly and sit up. Near her futon stood a jug of water from which she immediately begun to drink with greed.

"Just an hour," Haruko said. "Are you hungry now, Kagome-sama?"

Putting the jug aside Kagome shook her head negatively and tried to put her blurry memories of the sealing ritual together. Then she closed her eyes for a moment and felt inside herself. There, under a sheen of reiki a mass of youki hid just as before. And all was calm – at least for now.

"Sealing has failed," Kagome said, opening her eyes and looking at Sesshomaru. "Sesshomaru-san, do you know what has happened? My memories are… strange."

"When you started to fight against your youkai half it fought back and you started to transform chaotically and lash out at your environment. This Sesshomaru knocked you out after that, but transformations didn’t stop until he used his own aura to suppress yours," he replied. His eyes were looking somewhere far away and all in all he seemed to be much more interested in what he had seen than in answering Kagome's questions.

"What transformations?" Kagome asked with a start. She looked at her hands in sudden fear, but they seemed fine, despite her memories of decimating the poor wooden floor. ' _And Haruko would have said something if I was looking strange._ ' Kagome forcefully calmed herself down.

"One moment you had scales on your face, priestess. Next, they changed into feathers, and then to fur. Those were only some of many."

Kagome felt sick after hearing that. She couldn’t even imagine something like that happening to her, but apparently, it did. She touched her face carefully, but felt only a smooth skin. ' _Gods, what I am going to do now?_ '

"You are even more unstable than Inuyasha, priestess," Sesshomaru noted with a smirk before turning towards exit. "I wonder how much more time you have to live even with this Sesshomaru's help."

Kagome groaned. Every time Sesshomaru was helpful he didn’t forget to remind her that he was also a jerk. "I will be fine, just you see!" she exclaimed at him defiantly. "Actually, I will outlive you! Do you hear that, Sesshomaru-san?!"

Her last words were said to the closed door, and Kagome pouted, taking offence. At least she was sure that he heard her anyway.

"Don’t take his attitude close to heart, Kagome-sama," Haruko tried to cheer Kagome up. "He is just a jerk and you know it."

"I know, Haruko-chan. It's just that one moment he helps, and the next he says something like this! It's so confusing! One moment I want to thank him, and the next to throw something at him!" Kagome grumbled, getting up. Besides hit on her head she felt well enough to continue with her shrine duties for today. "Come on, Haruko-chan. Let's clean the shrine. I want to try sealing again tomorrow."


	6. A blink of an eye before eternity

It should have been said, that Kagome was nothing if not stubborn. She tried sealing again next day, and again, but results were always the same – only excruciating pain and wasted efforts. And with each failed try Kagome feared next one more and more, just as she feared that one time her transformations will just stay with her even after Sesshomaru subdues her youki, or that she will not be able to perform her duties as a priestess in future. For now Kagome found out that she was able to focus her reiki outside of her body as usual, but it was a scary and possible perspective none the less.

Still, barely managing to find some of her optimism, Kagome comforted herself with a thought that all this pain at least brought her more knowledge about her state. She realized a pattern in her episodes of instability – each time Kagome fought against youki inside of her it fought back, bringing her into a painful berserk state, but each time Sesshomaru's youki tried to overpower her aura, her reiki fought back and as a result fragile balance in Kagome's body was being restored again. The fact that after finding out what was necessary to calm Kagome down Sesshomaru didn’t knocked her out anymore and she was conscious to feel the push and pull of energies in her body helped with her surveys a lot.

Now, Kagome was thinking – should she try sealing again tomorrow or should she not? It was a hard question. She was afraid of failure and pain coming with it. It was horrible and if not her desperate position, Kagome wouldn’t have even thought about repeating the experience, especially more than once, especially now, when pain of the last one was only a less than a quarter of day in her memory. But she wanted to die even less and didn’t know what else to do besides accepting her fate (and Kagome decided already that this will never happen). Sesshomaru's cynical remarks didn’t tend to lift her spirits up as well.

' _Maybe I should try to look out for someone more knowledgeable,_ ' she thought, looking up to the blue sky from where she was sitting on the porch. Behind the corner of the house she could hear swishing of Haruko's broom. ' _There are scholars who spend their whole lives on studying all kinds of things. Maybe one of them has seen something similar to my problem._ '

Kagome's line of thoughts was suddenly interrupted with a slight pinprick of insect bite on her neck. She slapped at it on reflex, but was very surprised to see on her hand not a squashed mosquito, but a big fat flea. That was wearing clothes. And had _a face_.

"Flea youkai?" she asked herself, looking at a squashed, but alive, judging by his moans of pain, old man. "How did he get there?"

"Is everything fine, Kagome-sama?" Haruko asked loudly. Swipes of the broom stopped momentarily.

"Everything is all right, Haruko-chan! Continue sweeping!" Kagome shouted back before looking back at her hand. She didn’t care if Haruko decided to overhear any of her discussions, but shrine still needed to be swept today.

"This Sesshomaru brought him past the barrier," familiar voice was heard behind Kagome's back. She gasped in surprise and nearly fell from the porch before turning wildly towards its source – no one else but Sesshomaru, who was looking at her with slight amusement. She puffed her cheeks in indignation – she was sure that he started her on purpose. Not to mention that he managed to bring another youkai past the barrier without her noticing, though considering that this youkai was a size of an insect it wasn’t that impossible. Kagome herself didn’t notice him before he bit her.

"I am most honored to meet you, my lady!" flea, who was now not squashed anymore, greeted Kagome and jumped on the porch near her. "My name is Myoga, and I was once a loyal servant of Sesshomaru-sama's deceased father," he bowed respectfully at her and Kagome, remembering what was taught her of manners, bowed back. Then, something of what Sesshomaru told her earlier clicked in her mind. ' _Old flea…_ The _old flea…'_

"Was you the one to whom Sesshomaru-san brought my blood, Myoga-san?" she asked, throwing a glance at Sesshomaru. Flea nodded.

"It was I indeed! Oh, what a mockery of fate that such a fair maiden has such a foul-tasting blood!" Myoga cried out. "Of course, I meant no disrespect to you, Kagome-sama. I just wanted to take a fresh taste to make sure that my previous words to Sesshomaru-sama were right. I guess, he retold them to you?"

"He did. Is it all true, Myoga-san?" Kagome asked. She wanted to hope they weren’t, but last days put quite a damper on her hope.

"I am sad to say, that they are still the truth, Kagome-sama. Your blood is horribly unstable! If you don’t fix it somehow, I doubt sincerely that you will live for long," Myoga said with sadness in his voice and head bowed low.

"Myoga-san, maybe you know something that can help? Anything?" Kagome asked with hope. Surely a creature that was old even for youkai, who were fabled to live for millennia, will know something? Wasn’t that why Sesshomaru brought him to the shrine in the first place?

"Well…" Myoga hid his four hands in the sleeves of his kosode, thinking. "Maybe you can seal your youki," he started, but Kagome interrupted him:

"I tried already, Myoga-san. It only made everything worse," she said, before quickly retelling her results of her sealing attempts and her thoughts about the youki inside of her. The story made Myoga think long and hard.

"I know, I know, Kagome-sama!" he suddenly exclaimed, bouncing excitedly up and down, before stopping and continuing in more subdued tone. "It's just a theory, but your youkai blood now is a part of you, and such, you should be able to control it without those problems. Even Inuyasha-sama can do this partially, or he wouldn’t have been able to use Tessaiga to its full potential! So there must be something that doesn’t let you, and I think this is because your blood doesn’t know its true form."

"True form?" Kagome asked, dumbfounded. Myoga words didn’t seem to make much sense to her.

"Hm… Like a youkai taking a humanoid form, but other way around," Sesshomaru voiced suddenly with a glint of understanding in his eyes.

"What are you two talking about?" Kagome asked them in confusion. "How blood can know a form? How can I control in the first place?"

Sesshomaru glanced at Myoga. He seemed to understand the wordless order and hurriedly began to explain. Kagome noted with a hint of amusement, that now, when there was someone else to tell her necessary things, Sesshomaru seemed to be noticeable less talkative than before.

"Kagome-sama, surely you know that those," Myoga gestured at himself and Sesshomaru. "Aren’t how we really look like?" After Kagome's nod, he continued. "All youkai born in their true forms, and when they grow older, most powerful of them can learn now to transform into other beings, like humans. But to do so, youkai should first learn all the intricacies of a form he wants to take, or the final result of such transformation will be… unpredictable."

Kagome nodded again, before looking first at Sesshomaru, then at Myoga. "You don’t look that human," she blurted. That was an understatement.

"Ah, Kagome-sama, but we are similar enough to talk and have thumbs!" Myoga wiggled his four tiny thumbs wildly. Because of Myoga's size the sight was quite cute and Kagome giggled. "And since we decide for ourselves into what we transform, we can choose to keep our natural weapons and marks of heritage even in other forms!"

Kagome looked at Sesshomaru with growing realization. "So, you are saying… That Sesshomaru-san _chose_ to look so…" Kagome fumbled with her words, being sure that calling him 'pretty' in his face won't be much appreciated. Just as 'beautiful' and 'handsome'. "Esthetically pleasing?"

When Sesshomaru smirked like a cat that just got the cream Kagome mentally congratulated herself for her choice of words. ' _Who knew that Sesshomaru was this proud of his looks?_ ' she thought, trying not to giggle again.

"Indeed," he said. "This Sesshomaru spend years researching human conception of beauty to create a form that will be most perfect in all possible aspects."

"Wow," was the only thing Kagome could answer. ' _Well, he had surely succeeded in that,_ ' she thought with a slight envy. Her looks came to her from her parents, and while she wasn’t ugly, near Sesshomaru anyone would've looked like a chicken near a phoenix. She shook her head, returning to matter in hand.

"And how this all should help me, Myoga-san?" Kagome asked the old flea.

"As I said before, this is just a theory, Kagome-sama, but I think that if you study some youkai form well enough, you will be able to make your youkai part take its shape and stabilize in it. Even if that will not solve your problem completely, it will surely be of an enormous help!" the flea bounced excitedly again.

"And I will be able to transform into a youkai?" Kagome asked, suddenly feeling goosebumps creeping up her spine. She didn’t even truly accepted yet that she was stuck with youki under her skin, and now she was told that she will need to learn how to transform into _a youkai_? She felt like ground was taken out from under her legs.

"Indeed, Kagome-sama! Of any kind you will chose to!" Myoga answered. "But you will need some youkai to help you with the knowledge of the form first. I can do that, Kagome-sama, if you want to."

' _And transform into a flea?_ ' Perspective didn’t look well at all to Kagome. She couldn’t help herself and cringed a little. From Sesshomaru's side a quiet snort of amusement was heard.

"No offense, Myoga-san, but I am sure I will be able to find some other youkai to help," she replied, mentally unsure if she wanted to try Myoga's idea out at all. It looked like it might take a lot of her time and end result will be very different from the ideal one anyway (and ideal result was for Kagome to become just a simple priestess again).

"If you are going to do this, priestess, make sure to choose some at least not completely pathetic form," Sesshomaru said. For one reason or another he seemed just as ecstatic about idea of Kagome turning into a flea as Kagome herself.

"I just want to think about all of this first, all right?" the priestess said, putting an unsure smile on her face.

"Sure, Kagome-sama! I was just giving my humble advice!" Myoga replied with a bow.

"Kagome-sama, I finished sweeping and fed the chickens! Sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to ask your permission to go down to the village," Haruko suddenly interrupted the trio with an inquiry. "We are low on salt and any other food besides rice, cabbages and eggs. I was thinking about maybe buying some dried meat to put into dinner today?.. You surely deserve a treat after all of this, and we have some money."

"Oh! Another beautiful young maiden!" exclaimed Myoga seeing Kagome's apprentice and sprung on her neck with one impressive jump. Haruko's reaction was instantaneous – a quick slap that squished a pumped up flea in a blink of an eye.

"What's that?" Haruko wondered aloud, looking at her palm. "A talking flea?"

"A youkai flea," Kagome corrected with an amused grin. "His name is Myoga-san. Sesshomaru-san brought him there for his consult."

"Oh, um," Haruko stumbled, visibly not knowing what to do, before carefully putting flat Myoga on the ground and making a couple of steps back. "Will he be all right?"

Kagome waved her concerns off with a sheepish smile. "He will be fine, youkai are made of tough stuff, Haruko-chan. And sure, go to the village. But be careful! And bring some sweets with you if you can, please."

"I will be back before dinner, Kagome-sama," Haruko answered before leaving with a wave of her hand.

"Do not worry, Kagome-sama! I will protect her with all my might!" Myoga, who became three-dimensional again, announced proudly, before in hurry jumping after Haruko. "Goodbye, Kagome-sama, Sesshomaru-sama-a!" he cried out from somewhere far away.

"He will run away on the first sign of danger," Sesshomaru noted with a disdainful snort.

"Well, I wasn’t expecting much of protection from a flea…" Kagome replied with amusement. "But the village is close and the road is safe."

"Will you make another attempt of sealing tomorrow?" Sesshomaru suddenly asked, his piercing yellow eyes staring at Kagome. She felt a bit awkward under such intense scrutiny and after such an unexpected change of topic. He patiently waited for her answer.

"Um… No, I don’t think so," Kagome finally said after some time, lowering her eyes to the ground. "Seems a bit pointless now. And surely you have better things to do than keep me in check, Sesshomaru-san. It's bad enough that my presence keeps you there, I don’t want to inconvenience you more."

"This Sesshomaru does not, as you said, has better things to do, priestess," he replied haughtily and Kagome looked at him with a surprise. "Otherwise he wouldn’t have been there."

"Really? What you were doing before staying there, besides hunting for Tessaiga, Sesshomaru-san?" Kagome couldn’t help but wonder. ' _I mean, he did say that he stayed only out of his curiosity, but I was kind of expecting that there was some goodness of his heart involved too! After all, who would do what he did only out of sheer curiosity?_ '

"This Sesshomaru was searching for more power and strong opponents to prove himself in battle," he said. "But those will not go anywhere, and human life is short enough even without your curse, priestess. This endeavor is just a slight detour."

For a second, Kagome took his words into a perspective. Youkai could live for millennia. She didn’t knew how old exactly Sesshomaru was, but he was more than six hundred years old, and in comparison to his lifespan a few weeks, or months, or even years of staying at the shrine were, indeed, nothing important. Suddenly, Kagome felt very insignificant on the global scale of merciless time.

"I see," was the only thing she could say. Sesshomaru seemed to understand that she wanted to be alone – or it was he who wanted to be alone again – and silently left. Bright summer sun above Kagome's head was the complete opposite of her dark mood.


	7. Teach me, sensei!

Soon before dinnertime Haruko returned with no money left, but with a pouch of salt, some radishes, a rooster that probably died from old age and, what was most important – some mochis. The sweet treat was a big step towards improving Kagome's gloom mood, even if, after some consideration, she decided to leave them for after dinner.

"Did Myoga-san bother you while you were gone?" Kagome asked conversationally while ripping out feathers from the rooster. Near her, Haruko was cutting radishes for the soup.

"He wasn’t all that bad, Kagome-sama," Haruko answered with a giggle. "At least he made it transparent that he only wanted me for my blood. And a walk to the village was better when I had someone to chat with. It was even kind of a pity that he left to chase skirts at the village and left me alone."

"I am glad then, Haruko-chan," Kagome said happily. While Myoga was just a flea, she didn’t knew him much, and she felt irrationally protective towards her apprentice, despite knowing that she could hold her own even without holy powers. "Did you talk about what Myoga-san told to me today?"

"Yes, he did! Honestly, I envy you a little, Kagome-sama. He said that you could be _anything_! If I could be anything, I'd wanted to be a bird. Flying freely across the sky…" Haruko sighed dreamily before putting pieces of radish into bowl and starting to cut cabbages.

Kagome turned that in her head. She didn’t thought about _positive_ aspects of her possible change. Flying was an interesting perspective indeed. Haruko, though, didn’t stop there.

"Or I could be a fish and swim down to the depths of sea in search of treasure! Pearls, corals and sunken ships – I'd be rich!" she continued wistfully. "There are surely so many places in the world where humans had never walked. Or I could have travelled to mainland that you told me about and see its strange people for myself!"

Kagome smiled unhappily, tearing out the rooster's tail. "It was you who should have been in my place, Haruko-chan. But thank you, really. And you know you can still go and travel, right? Even to mainland, if you want."

"But I can't leave you alone, Kagome-sama," Haruko instantly denied. "You'd be lonely. And I am too weak to travel without any guard. Don’t worry about me, Kagome-sama, worry about yourself right now!"

"Still, thank you," Kagome smiled, pushing down on the urge to hug Haruko tight, since there was a knife in her hands.

***

Kagome thought about Haruko's words and her own predicament for a while, but it was hard for her to find determination to choose some course of action. Either way, it was soon time to walk down from the mountain and check on nearby villages, and Kagome decided to think about her state after this was done. Though it was hard not to think about it at all because of her worry that something will go wrong with her blood and provoke the instability again, and because it still burned. It never ever stopped.

But besides that worry, the week-long journey went even calmer than normal. Sesshomaru was always in near vicinity of the pair of travelling priestesses, following them like an invisible shadow, and Kagome was sure that he was the reason for the fact that they weren’t attacked even once during the trek.

Now Kagome and Haruko were walking on the road, leading to the Ryokami shrine, and home felt to be just a few more steps away. Kagome finally relaxed a bit, and even Sesshomaru seemed to, because there were little other reasons for the incident that happened next.

It was just a fox, but Kagome never heard of foxes who tried to attack humans. It came for them and Haruko without warning, lunging for Kagome's back. Only her backpack saved her from the mad animal's teeth before Kagome managed to turn around and grab for her knife. Near her, Haruko was doing the same with shaking hands.

The fox growled then and lunged again. Its eyes were bloodshot and there was froth coming from its mouth. Kagome swung her knife at her and hit something, but fox ignored it, biting on Kagome's hand, _hard_. The priestess heard Haruko shouting her name in worry, and felt pain spreading from the bite over her whole body. It wasn’t just from the wound, no, this pain was very familiar, and for a moment Kagome was filled with bone-crushing fear. And then she felt nothing besides pain and rage.

When Kagome came to herself again, the fox was torn apart into small pieces, and Haruko was looking at her with fear in her eyes and tears on her face. Kagome's memory was all jumbled, as usual, and her hands were washed in blood up to the elbows. Sesshomaru stood near her, watching impassively.

"I… What… Haruko-chan, are you alright?" Kagome asked in worry and made a step towards her apprentice. She froze in place when Haruko flinched. "I am sorry, I am so sorry…"

"I am… I am fine, K-kagome-sama," Haruko replied in shaken voice. "You didn’t attack me before Sesshomaru-sama came."

' _So it's 'sama' now,_ ' some distant part of Kagome noted. She could remember now that indeed, she first tore apart the fox that dared to bring her even more pain than she was in already, and only then turned to another presence nearby – and this was when Sesshomaru appeared to stop her. ' _But where he was when the fox attacked in the first place? What if he came too late and Haruko-chan was… was…_ ' Kagome felt sick and wasn’t sure if this was from thought of Haruko's possible death or the scene around her. She had seen her fair share of gross wounds and disemboweled youkai (though most were just neatly purified to ash), but this looked like a scene from nightmare.

The urge to blame everything on Sesshomaru was strong, but Kagome took a hold on herself. He didn’t promise to be her protector or anything. If anyone was at fault, it was Kagome herself. Before, her youkai blood only acted out when Kagome tried to seal it, but after now she wasn’t sure what else could be a trigger. She knew only one thing for sure – she can't stay and keep Haruko in danger. And she should do everything in her power to fix her problems without putting it away until someone gets hurt because of them. ' _It's like the Shikon's quest all along… But then I could protect at least Haruko-chan._ _Now she needs protection from me._ '

"Kagome-sama, let's go to the shrine," Haruko said, pulling her from her morbid thoughts. "You need to wash and look at that bite. I am afraid that this fox must have been sick with something."

"It was," Sesshomaru confirmed, looking at the intestines lying around. "Humans call this sickness 'rabies'. This Sesshomaru knows its smell."

Haruko paled, hearing that. Kagome felt way too troubled already to think about that as well.

"Let's go, Haruko-chan," she sighed heavily and started to walk forward slowly. Her body felt like lead. "I don’t want to bother about anything before I take a bath."

***

After a nice soaking in a barrel of sun-heated rainwater Kagome went to Sesshomaru with her already scabbed-over bite. The youkai was easy to find – he didn’t left the shrine grounds and left his aura unhidden, though still contained.

"Do you smell the sickness on me, Sesshomaru-san?" she asked, coming closer to the man. He was looking relaxed like that, when he was just sitting on the grass in the tree's shade, looking somewhere in the sky. Sesshomaru turned his head to her and took a deep breath.

"No. You can feel lucky, priestess," he answered, before turning back with disinterest. Kagome sighed and sat comfortably near him, in just a step's distance. This suddenly felt like too close to unapproachable man, but he didn’t move away, so Kagome didn’t too. Instead she gripped hard on her hakama. It was a bit scary to even think about approaching him with any kind of request, but Kagome didn’t know any other options.

"Sesshomaru-san… I was wondering if you know some flying youkai who might teach me about transforming into them. Maybe some bird or bat or even an insect, you know?" Kagome looked at him with hope. Surely someone as old as him should know someone? Now if he was only willing to tell about this person…

"The ability to fly doesn't belong only to winged creatures," Sesshomaru replied, turning to her. His lips formed a slight smirk. "Anyone whose youki is strong enough can learn it."

"Really?" Kagome couldn’t help herself. Before next question left her lips she suddenly realized its stupidity. "Can you fly?"

"Of course, priestess," Sesshomaru seemed to be offended by the inquiry. Look that he sent to her seemed to be asking 'Who do you take this Sesshomaru for?'. Kagome hid her mouth in her hands to not let the forming smile show, but judging by angry sparks in Sesshomaru's eyes it didn’t helped.

"I am sorry, Sesshomaru-san," she apologized with a slight bow. "Will I be able to fly?"

The look that he sent to her now was just the same. "Of course, priestess," Sesshomaru repeated.

Now Kagome didn’t know what to say next. Taking Haruko's words to heart she wanted to learn to transform into something that could fly, but if she will be able to do this in any form, her options were suddenly way too broad. She stayed silent, thinking everything over again. Sesshomaru, of course, was content with not saying anything as well.

Kagome was throwing quick glances on him from time to time. He was majestic, truly. There was ethereal grace in his every movement, no matter what he did. If she would have been an artist, she'd be spending all her days just painting him, trying to put this grace on paper with ink. Instead, Kagome was just trying to burn it in her memory. ' _I wonder if he is just as beautiful in his true form._ ' she thought suddenly.

The idea that formed in her head next soon transformed into a longing. Kagome realized that she was doing this, then she wanted to transform into something truly great. And despite his poor attitude, physically Sesshomaru was the greatest youkai Kagome ever knew. She didn’t even need to see his true form to be sure that it was just as perfect, even if she realized that thinking like that was silly and unrealistic. ' _And there is a high chance that he will refuse anyway,_ ' she added mentally. But she took a hold of all her determination and decided to at least try.

"Sesshomaru-sama, please, teach me how to transform into your form!" Kagome asked, putting her legs in seiza and bowing to the ground. Groveling. When he stayed silent, she was afraid to rise again, to see a grimace of disdain on his perfect face. But when Kagome finally did, instead she saw a wide grin, and somehow this was even scarier. Sesshomaru _never_ smiled before, and now he was showing her his fangs.

"On one condition, priestess," Sesshomaru said. "You will need to do everything this Sesshomaru says."

Kagome gulped. This sounded _very_ ominous. She was basically selling herself into slavery, even if she had no idea why he might need her as a slave. And there were no words about possible end of this arrangement! And looking into Sesshomaru's cruel eyes she couldn’t find strength in herself to ask about it. There were only two possible answers: 'yes' or 'no', and both led somewhere unknown and a possibility of painful death. But on one of them there was at least _someone_ familiar and after a deep breath Kagome said with a surety in her voice she didn’t felt.

"I accept."


	8. Wild rides

When he heard her answer, Sesshomaru's grin became even wider. Kagome, though, didn’t had enough time for all possible consequences of her choice to reach her mind, because before she could think another thought, the youkai gave his first command.

"Gather things you cannot live without and say your goodbyes, priestess. You have until sun touches the horizon before we leave," Sesshomaru stated, standing up and turning his back to Kagome, who was still sitting where she was before.

"W-wait! You mean, leave the shrine? Will we return there?" Kagome asked, scrambling on her feet. She threw a glance to the west to note with a slight panic that sun was hanging very low above the treetops already.

"And no more questions until this Sesshomaru states otherwise," he added, turning to Kagome for a moment to throw an irritated glance at her. "You just waste your time."

He walked away in the direction of shrine's gates, all deadly elegance and grace. Only now Kagome had time to ask herself on what she agreed on. She wasn’t ready for all of this. She wasn’t ready to leave her shrine, to become cursed, to transform into something inhuman. Sadly, fates weren’t caring if she was or wasn’t ready. They just threw her from the hillside and watched her tumble further and further down, it seemed.

Taking a hold on herself, Kagome shook her hand. She had very little time and wanted to spend it on something more productive than moping over things she couldn’t change. She was quite sure that when her time will be over, Sesshomaru will not be above of just throwing her over his shoulder and taking with him if necessary. Since Kagome didn’t want that, she decided to not waste any more of precious moments and run towards her room in the shrine house.

There were very few things that she wouldn’t be able to live without, but over her life Kagome gathered several sentimentally precious mementos she didn’t want to leave behind. She put them into a small pouch and thought a little about taking travelling supplies with her as well. After some consideration, she decided to take Sesshomaru's words literally and abstain of those. Instead, she grabbed her bow with arrows (things without which she will surely die sooner than later) and went on to look for Haruko. She didn’t need to look far.

Since the incident, the girl was strangely quiet, but Kagome, being busy first with the bath, then with her wound and Sesshomaru, didn’t had time to talk with her about what happened. Before, she thought about doing that tomorrow, but now this was an impossibility. Thankfully, search for her was very short - Haruko was right in her room, preparing to go asleep.

"Kagome-sama?" Haruko asked in surprise. "Is everything alright? You aren’t sick, aren’t you? What did Sesshomaru-sama said about it?"

Kagome shook her head. "No, I am fine. It's just…" she sighed, not knowing how to say it. "Haruko-chan, I must leave the shrine. Right now. I am only putting you in danger by being there, and Sesshomaru-sama agreed to help me with learning how to transform. But not there," Kagome averted her eyes in shame. She felt like she was abandoning not just Haruko, but her own duty as a priestess too. And now she was even unintentionally calling Sesshomaru with 'sama' as well, even when he wasn’t present. As if she was already adjusting to being his slave.

"Kagome-sama… Oh, please, don’t be sad. You were an amazing teacher, and I am sure I will be alright until you return. And you will be even more alright," Haruko said, moving closer to hug Kagome tightly. Gulping down a knot in her throat, Kagome hugged her back.

"Haruko-chan," the priestess half-sobbed. "You were the best apprentice one can wish about. You will beat any other priestess anytime, holy powers or not. Just don’t put yourself in danger, fine? There are still some charged ofudas in stock and shrine's barrier will work even without me there."

"I will be safe, I swear. Who knows, maybe I will even find an apprentice on my own, when you are gone, Kagome-sama!" Haruko laughed, though when she pulled back from her hug it was clear that she was crying as well. "Now go. And imagine yourself a caterpillar that is going to transform into a beautiful butterfly!"

Kagome couldn’t help but smile despite her tears. "Yes, taily, furry, _doggy_ butterfly. Goodbye, Haruko-chan. I will miss you whenever I go."

"Goodbye, Kagome-sama," Haruko answered with similar teary smile. With that, Kagome turned her back to her and headed towards the shrine gates. Her heart felt heavy, but at the same time, lighter than before. Since Kagome came to the shrine and until she met Haruko, the priestess was completely alone on the mountain. After the two years that Kagome was Haruko's teacher they became almost like sisters. It was hard to let her go, but her acceptance and understanding meant a lot.

Sun was almost setting already. Sesshomaru's tall figure was leaning on the column of the shrine gates. His piercing yellow eyes were trained on Kagome when she came near.  
  
  
"Stay where you are," he said, when Kagome opened her mouth to declare herself ready to go. A bit rattled by interruption, Kagome closed her mouth with audible clatter. She had even more questions now, like: 'What?' and 'Why you were telling me to prepare to going somewhere _at night_ and now telling me to stay put?', but for now Kagome had enough willpower and reasonable fear to keep them inside of her head. She wasn’t sure about when her patience will be over and gone, though.

While Kagome was trying not to start fuming, Sesshomaru already walked few steps away down the road. He didn’t walk long, though, before stopping – he was barely ten steps away from the shrine gates, when he tuned his face to her again.

"Now you will see what you will be trying to match, priestess," Sesshomaru said, looking at Kagome with a sharp look on his face. From her place she could see how his eyes began to bleed red and blue, just like Inuyasha's when he went berserk. Kagome did a step back on reflex before stopping. Reason was telling her that Sesshomaru wasn't suffering from half-youkai's instability, so she should have been safe. She didn’t felt safe at all.

Change in Sesshomaru's eyes was only the beginning. His aura flared, surrounding his body in almost visible cocoon, and Kagome watched with strange fascination how his skin became covered by white fur, how his lips elongated into a predatory grin that became a muzzle, how his whole body blurred and transformed. After a few heartbeats that felt like days to Kagome, the change stopped.

Sesshomaru now towered right before her, just as majestic and beautiful in his true form as Kagome imagined when looking at his human one. A great white dog, at least five times as tall as her, was now looking at her with blood-red eyes with barely seen pupil. Ferocious expression on his snout somehow felt much more fitting to Sesshomaru's nature than his usual impassive face.

' _This fur looks really, really soft_ ,' Kagome couldn’t help herself. She always liked dogs. When she lived in the village with family she bribed strays with food only to pet them afterwards. Now she had (a theoretical) opportunity to pet the emperor of all things canine. Her legs made a step forward without her conscious thought, but she froze on spot again when Sesshomaru suddenly moved.

Instead of eating Kagome alive or anything threatening, though, he just stretched his paws in surprisingly cat-like gesture and lied on the ground, before staring at Kagome meaningfully. She just didn’t know what meaning that was. It became noticeably clearer, though, when she felt something soft and furry push her towards Sesshomaru.

She yelped, stumbled, almost falling on his folded paws, and then froze in fear when she felt hot, warm breath on her back. Before Kagome made a decision to fight for her life, she was unceremoniously grabbed for her clothes and almost thrown onto Sesshomaru's neck. Grabbing onto fistfuls of his fur reflexively to not fall down, she took a second to understand her situation.

"You want me to ride you?" she asked incredulously. Never in thousand years had she imagined riding Sesshomaru! In his true form or not. Her only answer was a distinctly annoyed growl. "Right, right, sorry, no questions!"

With that Sesshomaru stood up on his four legs again. Sudden rising made Kagome to grab harder on his fur and she hurried to change her posture into something more convenient for not falling down before he started to move again. She barely had time for this, before Sesshomaru started to run.

The first few eternities were filled only with panic and desire to not fall down. Then Kagome started to take notice of night wind blowing on her face, all that silky fur in which she was burrowed so deep that only her head was outside, and exhilarating feeling on movement that was faster than any horse's, faster than anything she ever felt in her life. In the bright light of almost full moon Kagome could see trees becoming a blur on her sides, before Sesshomaru turned from the road to the hills and view around her became even more spectacular.

Not bearing to keep it inside, Kagome let out a joyful laughter. She didn’t know what was waiting her further on, but this ride alone was worth a lot. "This is amazing, Sesshomaru-sama!" she shouted, trying to be heard over the howls of wind, and could hear a short yap in reply. Kagome had no idea what it could mean, but was sure that it was something positive.

She didn’t know how long Sesshomaru was running. She couldn’t tell where they were at night, even if it was a bright one, and sometimes it felt like they were moving in circles. But Kagome was sure that Sesshomaru was running for a quite a long time without tiring – so long, in fact, that after a while Kagome's excitement changed to tiredness and she was reminded by her own yawn that it was night and she was supposed to be asleep long ago. The fact that if they weren’t moving so fast, wide and soft Sesshomaru's back would have been made a perfect bed wasn’t helping at all, but fear of falling down was helping Kagome to stay awake.

Thankfully, Sesshomaru stopped running soon after that, slowing to a walk. When, noticing sudden lack of fast movement, Kagome raised her head to look around, she could see that they came to a mouth of a huge cave – big enough to be able to fit Sesshomaru in his true form and very, very dark. Without a pause, Sesshomaru walked in and lied down. Kagome could barely see glistening of his fur in the weak light.

Deciding that this was her signal to get down, Kagome carefully jumped from the youkai's back and looked around. To her disappointment she couldn’t really see anything besides that fact that Sesshomaru's eyes were closed. ' _Are we going to sleep there? Right on the ground? It may be fine for a dog, but I don’t have all that fur!_ '

She considered the idea of going outside and at least getting some leaves and grass for an underlay. Then Kagome considered the idea of cuddling with Sesshomaru. In his human form he was the epitome of untouchable; but now, as a big furry dog, he was very cuddly indeed. When his tail pushed the indecisive priestess towards the lying form again, Kagome took that as another order. With a slight smile she snuggled into the patch of longer fur running around his torso and closed her eyes, drifting into sleep.

***

She dreamed of flying on fluffy clouds. They were so soft and warm, that Kagome felt that she could just melt in them. But over time, the warmth became too much. Now it was hot, way too hot for flying. And way too hot to continue dreaming. That was when awareness crept in.

At first Kagome didn’t understood where she was. Everything around her was white and hairy and hot, hot, _hot_! Then memories of last night came in and she continued tangling herself out of soft fur with less panic and more care. When she finally reached the air, she took a deep breath of relief and stretched her limbs with a yawn. Her clothes were damp with sweat; the summer morning was way too warm to sleep in clothes and buried in fur at the same time. And this without mentioning the heat that owner of the said fur was emanating.

Using the opportunity that sunrays that were lighting up the cave brought, Kagome looked around. The cave, despite being very big, didn’t have any other noticeable features besides the huge pile of dried grass that Kagome could see lying below Sesshomaru's form. It seemed, that he was in that particular came before and made himself a makeshift bed; maybe this was his den of sorts. It was hard to imagine a regal _humanoid_ Sesshomaru to live in the den, but around a giant dog it looked very organic.

' _Was this what he was showing me? Not just his true form, but where it truly belongs to?_ ' Kagome wanted to ask. At this point she almost felt like asking anything just to ask. She never was very good with prohibitions, and after night spent cuddling she wasn’t feeling very reverent towards Sesshomaru. She still felt like petting him, though.

Suddenly, the form of Sesshomaru, who before that was just lying and looking at Kagome calmly with his scarlet eyes, shifted. He blurred again, changing his form with already familiar flare of aura, and a second later Kagome could see him standing on two legs again.

"You may ask questions now, priestess," he said. Before any sound could leave Kagome's readily opened mouth, he added. "Only three of them."

' _I am starting to think that all this thing about doing what he said was just so he could avoid my voice without going away,_ ' Kagome glared at Sesshomaru with a pout. His lips stretched in a smirk in response.

"Can I, please, pet you?" those words left Kagome's lips before she could think anything better. Image of giant dog was still before her mental eye. When she saw Sesshomaru's disbelieving look, she blushed and added in mortification: "I mean, um, when you will transform into a dog again. I d-didn’t mean that I wanted to pet you _now,_ Sesshomaru-sama. Though, your pelt looks really soft. I could pet it, if you wanted to. I mean, surely you don’t, but, um, just in case-" Kagome shut her mouth when she realized that not only she was blabbering, but that her wild tongue took her somewhere where she really didn’t want to go. Thankfully, Sesshomaru looked more amused than angered.

"This Sesshomaru may consider granting this request," he replied with such regal air, as if petting him was some kind of great privilege only for chosen ones. Which it, in a sense, was.

Now silence fell over the cave again. Sesshomaru seemed to be not very inclined to speak first, and Kagome remembered her two leftover questions. Since she wasted her first one (' _It was not a waste if he will let me pet him!_ ' some distant part of her brain shouted), Kagome was determined to make the rest count. Deciding on the most important questions, though, was hard. Part of her wanted to ask about when she will be able to return to Haruko and the shrine, or where they were now and where they were going to, and other, similar, just life-related things. Another was telling her to spend precious questions on asking Sesshomaru about transformations if just to finish her education on the subject sooner. But in the end, Kagome had both of her questions and with them also some sort of inner compromise.

"How long, do you think, it will take for me to learn to transform? If I will ever manage it, that is," she asked first. For a few heartbeats Sesshomaru lowered his eyelids in contemplation.

"This Sesshomaru spend about a half of a decade studying humans and meditating before he was able to transform into a humanoid form. Some other youkai spent less time, but their forms, in result, are lacking," Sesshomaru's disdain towards those hack workers was clearly noticeable both in his voice and on his face. "This Sesshomaru will not let you assume another form before he will be sure that the result will be satisfying."

' _Well, isn’t he a perfectionist,_ ' Kagome thought with a painful expression. ' _Five years! This is longer than I had Shikon no Tama for! This is, like, a quarter of my entire life!_ '

"And… What I will need to do for that to be?" she fired her second question with a slight trepidation. She remembered well all the scrolls of rites that she was told to memorize by heart in her childhood by her grandfather, who taught her how to be a priestess. She hoped she won't need to repeat the experience.

"You will need to learn in detail both body and spirit of the dog youkai," Sesshomaru replied calmly. "Body represents the knowledge of it from both outside and the inside. Spirit stands for knowledge and acceptance of innate reflexes and instincts of the form, which includes our perception of beauty."

' _Hm, I can understand anatomy, but what about reflexes and instincts? How he is going to teach me those?_ ' Kagome expected a lot of explainings from him in her future. On a good side, Sesshomaru had a quite nice voice and used it much rarer than he could.

"Does that mean that you needed to study human instincts, Sesshomaru-sama? How did you do that?" Kagome wondered aloud.

"You had only three questions, priestess," Sesshomaru's sharp reprimand was her reminder that her quota for now was over. "This Sesshomaru expects his orders to be obeyed. If not, physical means of enforcing them might be used."

"Sorry, Sesshomaru-sama," Kagome said without any conviction in her voice. She wasn’t going to encourage his now not just arrogant, but also very bossy attitude, wild rides and cuddles or not. "I was just interested. Though, now I am wondering what we are going to do now. I am hoping that it will be related to breakfast somehow. Humans need to eat human food, after all. I don’t know at all what youkai eat. And those aren’t questions!" she added hurriedly with innocent face when she noticed Sesshomaru's darkening mood. But instead of shutting her up, like Kagome was half-expecting, he just pretended she was some kind of buzzing insect and walked outside of the den-cave.

"You will accompany this Sesshomaru on his hunt," he said with his back turned to Kagome, as if he wasn’t replying to her not-questions. "After that you will hunt for yourself."

"Sounds like a plan!" Kagome replied cheerfully, coming after him. Despite her general clumsiness and lack of stealth required to be a great hunter, she was quite assured in her ability to shoot down some bird, or possibly even a squirrel. She was able to shoot a moving youkai in the eye, birds were nothing. They, at least, didn’t try to kill her. Unless they were bird youkai.

While Kagome's thoughts were on what she might shoot herself for breakfast, Sesshomaru, without wasting another word, transformed into his true form again and lied on the ground. His low growl was a thing that returned Kagome to reality.

"Oh, I guess that means riding again," she said half-questioningly before grabbing Sesshomaru's fur to climb on his back before he threw her in there again. "By the way, I re-e-eally hope that I can pet you now, Sesshomaru-sama. In fact, I will think that I may, unless you say something otherwise!" Kagome added with not very well hidden glee. It was not like he was able to say anything in this form, after all. So when in response Sesshomaru emitted a warning growl, Kagome innocently pretended to not understand dog. It wasn’t untrue, after all.

Instead, balancing herself on Sesshomaru's back even when he stood up and tensed, she climbed right on top of his head and started to energetically scratch with both hands behind one of his floppy ears. His reaction was instantaneous – Sesshomaru's whole body relaxed noticeably. A second later Kagome heard a loud thumping behind her that made her look around only to see that Sesshomaru, the oh-so-great Sesshomaru-sama, was stomping one of his back legs. This time, though, was enough for him to get his bearings again, because a moment later Sesshomaru snarled loudly and angrily, before breaking into a run so fast, that Kagome yelped and needed to grab the same ear behind which she just scratched to just not fall off. That didn’t stop her following giggles, though.

It took a while for them to calm down. Kagome was quite sure that Sesshomaru will remember her deed later on, but for now it seemed to be forgotten. And when Sesshomaru stopped to just run around in circles and began to walk more slowly in search of a possible prey, Kagome climbed down to her previous spot on his neck and prepared to watch over what was, she was sure, not just breakfast for her mount, but also a lesson for her.

At first, Sesshomaru wandered almost aimlessly, sniffing air, ground and trees he passed by. Then, after another sniff of his big black (' _And cute,_ ' Kagome couldn’t help herself) nose, he seemed to find a scent of his prey, because after that his long strides were filled with obvious purpose. It was a walk of a predator.

It was interesting, how despite his huge size and catchy color, Sesshomaru managed to be relatively stealthy. He was still easy to see with your eyes, but even when sitting right on him, Kagome couldn’t feel his aura, and he moved soundlessly like a ghost. For an experiment, she burrowed deeper into his fur and, trying not to feel too strange, sniffed him. Sesshomaru's true form smelled… Well, like a dog. A clean dog, though. Kagome wasn’t sure what to make of it. She did, though, hide her own aura as well as she could.

Soon, Sesshomaru stopped before a hole in the ground. On a first glance it looked like a den of a bear, but Kagome could easily feel an aura of youkai hiding inside of it. Then, without any warning, Sesshomaru stomped with his front paw, _hard._

And Kagome would have really liked the warning, because right after that scared snake-like youkai darted from his hole right into the sky, and Sesshomaru gave chase. Kagome's stomach was somewhere in her feet, her hands were grabbing dog's fur so hard that her knuckles turned white, and Sesshomaru was enjoying himself so obviously that Kagome could tell it even from her spot on his back. He toyed with his prey, slowing down only to suddenly catch up and darting left and right with loud barks to spook a poor youkai into changing directions, while Kagome was trying to not throw up right on Sesshomaru's back.

When he finally closed his jaws around his prey and swallowed it in four big bites, Kagome let out a breath of relief. The only thing that wasn’t letting her to jump down from Sesshomaru's back as soon as he landed on the ground again was his height. Thankfully, he didn’t continued to torture her and lied down, letting het climb down. The feeling of hard, _unmoving_ ground beneath her feet was so great that Kagome wanted to kiss the grass she was standing on. Or throw up on it, she wasn’t sure which yet.

Short bark from Sesshomaru's side caught Kagome's attention. She looked up at him and noticed amusement in his crimson eyes. It was nice, because distracted her from the tornado in her guts.

"Just, just wait a moment," she breathed out and retched, before adding accusingly. "You did this on purpose, didn’t you?"

A slow nod was a response to her. Kagome wanted to feel angry, but couldn’t find energy for it. Instead she concentrated on deep breaths. It took her a few of them before her stomach returned to norm. Deciding that now that she was able to keep her food down, she should actually get any, Kagome took her bow from her back and put a bowstring on it.

"I am ready to hunt now!" she declared, looking around. Her and Sesshomaru's presence seemed to scary any animals away from the spot they were in. He himself didn’t seem inclined to transform back into his human form, but considering that he was probably a much better hunter than her anyway, Kagome decided to ignore it. Choosing a direction on random, she started to walk there, looking around carefully. Soon a giant white shadow began to glide behind her.

It took Kagome some time to find a place that wasn’t yet completely deserted, and spot a quail in the thick grass. Finding a small, camouflaged bird was the hardest part; shooting it after that was so easy that Kagome could have probably done that even flying on Sesshomaru's back.

Sometime later the two of them were sitting around the small bonfire at the entrance to Sesshomaru's den. The fire was the courtesy of the youkai, who returned into his human form again (thankfully, without reprimanding Kagome for her tricks on him with more than few cold glares), but the bird that Kagome just finished to ate was cooked completely by the priestess herself.

"Tell me what you learned of this Sesshomaru's instincts on the hunt, priestess," Sesshomaru asked just as Kagome started to think about finding some source of drinkable water. The question made her thoughts turn to another direction.

"Well, I am very sure that chasing and pouncing are instinctual, and you stated yourself, Sesshomaru-sama, that you played with your prey on purpose, so this part wasn’t," Kagome started to recount from the end of the hunt. A short nod of agreement from Sesshomaru made her a bit more confident. "Following the prey's trail, I think, also instinctual, but scaring it out of the den was a learned trick. I think that walking silently and hiding your aura are also learned. And, while this isn’t an instinct…" Kagome drawled with a sly smile. "I am certain that relaxing and stomping your paw when being scratched behind your ear is an innate reflex."

The deadly glare Sesshomaru send her was at the same time worth so much and making Kagome regret her last words. And hope that they weren’t really her _last_ words.

"Priestess," Sesshomaru said slowly in an ice cold voice. "You replied well. Because of your inappropriate for your position behavior, though, this Sesshomaru thereby revokes your talking privileges completely. And any further unsanctioned touches of this Sesshomaru's persona, in this form or another, will be met with further punishment."

' _Yep, my last words indeed!_ '


	9. Train hard

After their breakfast was done, Sesshomaru – still in his human form – led Kagome to nearby stream, where she was given an opportunity to drink and clean up a little before he led her further on in some unknown direction. Despite her quenched thirst, Kagome was positively fuming and wasn’t even trying to hide it. Sadly, Sesshomaru was completely unaffected by her mood – if anything, he seemed to be smug instead. And so, without the opportunity to speak her mind to him aloud, Kagome was calling him all kinds of names on the inside of her mind. As an added bonus, it was alleviating the boredom of silent walk.

' _Damn this pompous jerk! Look at him, so happy about shutting me up! What's next, he will say 'woman must be seen and not heard'? Or maybe 'the pupil is property of his teacher and should be thankful for the very opportunity for education'? If he wasn’t teaching me about youkai transformations, I'd showed him that I am not afraid of him and his treats! He might be strong, but I wasn’t chosen to be the keeper of the Shikon no Tama for nothing!_ '

"Priestess," Kagome attention was suddenly grabbed by the sound of Sesshomaru's voice. He was still looking forward, as if he wasn’t talking to her. "This Sesshomaru is now going to tell you an old legend that is told to youkai's young before they start to learn how to assume human forms."

That made Kagome to hurry up and get closer. She was suspecting that Sesshomaru was of this type of teachers who only explained things once and expected everyone to remember all that was said perfectly. Kagome had a lot of experience with memorizing legends, but she still wasn’t going to miss a word just because she lagged too far behind. Not just because he Sesshomaru was going to expect her to remember his words, but also because he really stroked fires of her curiosity just now.

"The events of those legends happened about ten thousand years ago. At this time, humans were just a species of particularly cunning and bald monkeys, another prey for youkai that were ruling the land. But the dame came and some of them eventually fell prey to human's traps and tricks. That made human race worthy of notice for some youkai, and one of those was Kurama. He was the most powerful fox youkai, told to be a future father of Inari herself, and also most curious of them – when people say that curiosity killed the cat, they forget to add that fox survived and thrived from it. Kurama studied secrets of the land, the sea and the sky, and was able to assume form of any creature that was inhabiting it, including apes that resembled humans most closely. Of course, he was curious of humans as well. Using his mastery of shapeshifting, he soon learned how to assume human form, but after that his explorations only begun. Seven times seven seasons changed before Kurama concluded that humans were so incredible that they created new insights for him to learn faster than he could do so; and this discovery was so exiting for the fox, that he immediately went on to share his findings about human race with every youkai. With that Kurama also spread the knowledge on how to assume a form of one, and those who learned it from him started to call Kurama the title of The First One To Walk On Human Feet."

When Sesshomaru felt silent, Kagome, who was lulled by the enchanting notes of his voice deep into the story, shook her head to return to reality. This was more words at one time than she ever heard of him to say, and the legend itself was most fascinating.

"Wow! Ten _thousand_ years ago? And humans already existed then?" question left Kagome's mouth before she remembered about Sesshomaru's earlier order. When he stopped walking and turned to her sharply, the priestess already closed her mouth shut and was looking at him cautiously. Then Sesshomaru's hand moved suddenly, and Kagome was rewarded with a hit of a palm edge on her head.

"Ouch!" she yelped, grasping the top of her skull. The hit, despite being so fast that Kagome didn’t even had time to move away, wasn’t a hard one. It was definitely made with more than enough consideration for her human frailty, and Sesshomaru warned her of possible punishments for disobeying his orders. Still, Kagome pouted. It might have been fair, and this was way, way milder than some punishments she went through in her younger years, but this didn’t mean that Kagome was going to encourage Sesshomaru's attitude. He was way too bossy as it was, and after years spent being her own and only figure of authority Kagome didn’t wanted anyone tell her what to do and what not to.

Sesshomaru didn’t say another word before continuing to walk, and after a short pause Kagome followed after him. Their journey to unknown places continued in silence, and after a while, when Kagome's anger finally calmed down, it even became somewhat nice one.

***

In a week that followed, Kagome got used to the schedule that was established by Sesshomaru. They walked at day, seemingly aimlessly, stopping only to sleep, eat and forage. During the week Sesshomaru took Kagome for a hunt with him again, making her realize that he didn’t need to eat as often as humans needed to. But most of the time Kagome searched for her food, be that birds or wild plants, by herself. He stopped following her at her hunts when he was assured in her ability to find her own food. And he still let her sleep on his fur, or his pelt when he stayed in human form for the night. It was a bit of a surprise for Kagome, when she found that they had exactly the same luxurious texture.

Sesshomaru also continued to teach Kagome not just by example, but with words too. Most of those words were written on scrolls, though. He brought them to her after a second night of their journey together. They were full of notes on dog youkai physiology and all kinds of related diagrams. There were drawings of muscles, bones, organs and their placements, description of their purposes, and even explanations of different kinds of dog breeds. Kagome never saw so detailed medical scroll about _humans_ in her entire life, mostly being taught by word, and treasured those scrolls a lot despite them being about completely different species and being generally heavy to carry around all day.

When Sesshomaru told Kagome anything besides more orders or questions to make sure she remembered what she was taught, he usually explained things about instincts of their kind. And there were a lot of them, about that Kagome was sure. For now Sesshomaru only had time (and words to spare) to teach her about most basic, survival ones, such as: to chase prey, to avoid foul smells that usually signify sickness, to lick their wounds. In those, youkai dogs didn't seem much different for Kagome than their normal counterparts. And not just them – after some thinking, Kagome found similarities between those and humans' instincts as well. Survival was universal.

She still wasn’t allowed to speak most of the time, but at the end of the week Sesshomaru was allowing her to say much more than before. Restriction of her speech was now less torturous for Kagome than before, but was still annoying her with its sheer existence and all those times when she forgot herself and was hit as result. Thankfully, besides that Sesshomaru wasn’t ordering her anything she wouldn’t do anyway, and his strikes on her were never hard – not a punishment, but a reprimand. As Kagome expected, Sesshomaru didn’t need a human slave, but as she didn’t expected, he wasn’t cruel to her by choice. His actions never were truly hurtful, and Kagome started to realize that while his words and thoughts might have been, it wasn’t out of his bad feelings for her personally. It was just because he was, as Kagome liked to say mentally, a self-assured jerk.

It was at the eighth morning of their travels when Sesshomaru declared:

"You now know enough to start meditating, priestess. The process is necessary to prepare your youki for future transformation. Sit comfortably and concentrate on it. Try to meld it to display some feature of dog youkai. For now, focus only on what you find most simple to imagine," as usual, his instructions were short and to the point.

While Kagome was looking for a soft patch of grass and a best posture for long meditation, Sesshomaru sat down on the ground few steps away. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Kagome knew well how to meditate after her shrine education, but touching her youki scared her. ' _At least there is no one around to be hurt if something happens before Sesshomaru can stop me,_ ' she reminded herself, trying to find comfort at that.

It still was there - the chaotic, pulsing entity inside of her. And now Kagome needed to control it somehow to stabilize it so she would be able to actually control it. The whole situation was a vicious circle, but she still needed to at least try. And Sesshomaru was also there to make sure she will try hard. Kagome could clearly imagine disdain on his face if she told him she decided to give up and commit honorable suicide instead. He'd probably melt her slowly after that, if only to punish her for his wasted time.

Kagome pushed such thoughts aside. She still very much wanted to live, and her thoughts should have been on meditation, not Sesshomaru again. She reached for the youki inside of her. Long ago she was taught how to control her reiki as if it was part of her; now she needed to learn to do the same with youki, the opposite power. But the hardest part, Kagome felt, will be to accept it as part of her body in the first place.

It felt vile and gross like a pit full of vipers. Very different from Sesshomaru's youki, even if it wasn’t exactly pleasant as well. ' _I am trying to be like him,_ ' Kagome reminded herself. ' _I will_ make _it better._ ' She continued to concentrate on her youki, trying to feel more of it, despite the unpleasantness of the sensation.

After some time – Kagome couldn't say how much without opening her eyes and senses to the world and she didn’t want to break her concentration yet – she decided that enough was enough. The youki was in a state of a constant change, that Kagome could feel clearly, and at this point she felt enough closeness to it that the desire for it to become _something_ was almost unbearable. She wasn’t sure if it was her own or the youki's. So she imagined the most simple to emulate in human body dog's feature and tried to push her youki into becoming it.

It took more time before Kagome felt the youki actually listening to her thoughts and easily shifting according to them. Then, she felt the transformation itself. Surprisingly, it was painless. If not for the feeling of it lying on the grass, Kagome wouldn’t have even noticed her new limb. She opened her eyes in slight disbelief that it actually _worked_. First thing she noticed was that it was already evening. Second – that she now had a white fluffy tail that was twitching around without her conscious notice. Kagome tried to move it around on purpose and it did. For some reason it wasn’t burning with her youkai blood unlike the rest of her body.

"This… This…" Kagome wasn't sure if she was elated or panicking instead. Her breaths turned shallow. She had _a tail_! She! Had! A! _Tail!_ Yes, she heard Sesshomaru's recounts on her chaotic transformations before, and this was what she was consciously trying to do, but actually seeing it, feeling it was a shock.

"A good progress," Sesshomaru finished instead of her. "This Sesshomaru guesses that clarity of mind which humanoid form brings and your education as a priestess made learning easier for you. This may take much shorter than this Sesshomaru was expecting."

Kagome barely heard Sesshomaru's words. She still could feel youki inside of her, just as she could always feel her reiki. And it was still moving to change, as if this small transformation wasn’t enough. Kagome could feel it tearing itself apart in indecision, wishing to transform in all possible forms at once. She tried to stop it with her newfound barely-there control, return it into more docile previous state, but it was useless. It didn’t listen, it just burned, burned, _burned_ instead, changing Kagome without her consent. She could see with terror that skin on her hands was now covered in dark feathers.

A strong, oppressing aura washed over Kagome like a breath of fresh air, pushing her youki back until her reiki flared on reflex and covered it again. If she was standing, she'd probably fell; instead she just toppled backwards to lie on the ground and took a deep breath. She was glad to realize that her tail was gone, just as those scales. Sesshomaru seemingly ignored her distressed state, continuing to express his thoughts aloud as if nothing happened. Which, despite his general dislike for talking, this wasn’t uncharacteristic of him by Kagome's observations. While rarely talking about himself, he was always quite inclined to share with Kagome his thoughts and ideas if they were about her state.

"It also seems that your unstable youki makes the transformation itself easier, if more dangerous. Most youkai need to coerce their youki to be more malleable before they are able to transform even a little. Yours is already too malleable. Hm. If you continue like you are, you might be able to transform in a year, priestess," Sesshomaru shared to her. "If you will not lose all your sanity in the process, of course."

' _Great,_ ' Kagome though. She felt very tired and hungry, and her body was sore from sitting for so long, but this wasn’t sudden. She meditated for a whole day and then almost went berserk - Sesshomaru stopped her right before the edge after which Kagome's pain began to change into uncontrollable desire for destruction. This was very tiring indeed. She should have tried to get up and get some more food than leftover wild apples she had with her, but couldn’t find the strength. Instead she just closed her eyes for a moment.

When she opened them again it was night already and Kagome was lying on Sesshomaru's pelt near a small bonfire. Quiet murmur of a steam of water was heard a dozen of steps to the side, and some mouth-watering smell was feeling her nose. When Kagome sat up, she saw three sticks with cooked fish on them that were stuck in the ground near her. She looked to the other side of the long pelt and met Sesshomaru's calm gaze. He seemed to read questions in her eyes, because he inclined his head and said:

"You can now speak freely, priestess. Do not make this Sesshomaru revoke this privilege again."

This surely wasn’t what Kagome was expecting, and that without counting the situation in general. She turned to the fish near her mutedly, then back to Sesshomaru. ' _So when I finally can speak I am actually lost all words? Way to go, Kagome!_ '

"Is this for me, Sesshomaru-sama?" she finally asked unsurely. It was kind of an obvious question, but she couldn’t help herself. Sesshomaru might have been quite accommodating of her human needs and very helpful when with her youkai curse, but Kagome never imagined him caring for her. And how he seemed to have brought her to the stream, laid down comfortably, made her food to eat and then, just to top all that, granted her a permission speak (reasonably) freely. Just unbelievable.

"Did today events somehow damaged your brain, or do you see any other creatures that eat such food around, priestess?" Sesshomaru replied with a mocking curve of his brow. Kagome puffed her cheeks and crossed her arms on her chest. Now that was the Sesshomaru she knew.

"Believe me, my brain is just fine!" she told back without a real anger, enjoying the ability to do so without repercussions. ' _If someone's brain is damaged, it's yours, because this seems to be the only reason for you to do all of this!_ ' Kagome thought, taking one of the sticks and chewing on the fish with a smile. She added sincerely: "Thank you."

Sesshomaru didn’t grant her with an answer for that.


	10. Fight easy

"There is a strong instinctual need for dog youkai to protect what they think is 'theirs', be that territory, prey or a mate, that sometimes even bypasses common sense," Sesshomaru lectured tonelessly when he and Kagome were walking on a forest road next day.

"Is this where proverb about dog in the manger came from?" Kagome wondered aloud. "Did dog think that manger belonged to it?"

"This Sesshomaru doesn’t have such extensive knowledge of human expressions," he replied with a flat look that made Kagome hide her giggles in her fist. For some reason, her mood was especially good today, and she found herself much more willing to laugh than usual. Maybe it was the weather (sunny, but with light and refreshing breeze), or the speaking rights.

Before Kagome could say anything else, though, Sesshomaru stopped in his tracks and took a deep breath. Suddenly, he smiled. Just like the previous instance of when Kagome had seen Sesshomaru smile, the picture made shivers go down her spine.

"Hide your aura, priestess, and be quiet," he ordered, before making a sharp turn into the forest line. Kagome, plagued by curiosity and anxiety, took haste and followed after him, trying not to step on too many crunchy twigs and fastening a bowstring on her bow just in case. Sesshomaru's strides were familiar to her ever in his human form – it was a gait of a predator that was stalking his prey. Soon she felt its presence too – a strong aura of a youkai who wasn’t even trying to hide his presence, at most four arrow flights away.

Finally, they passed the line of trees that was growing near road and could see the meadows behind them and what was there. A scene of a big battlefield could be seen before their eyes, with fallen warriors lying in heaps there and there. Crows were flying around, trying to get a tasty piece. Kagome's attention, though, was on a giant figure of a grey-skinned oni that was chewing something in the middle of it. She hoped that he wasn’t eating a corpse. It was then that another gust of wind brought to Kagome a familiar and unmistakable smell of decay and she suppressed a bout of nausea. She threw up on sight of battlefields enough for her life already. Sesshomaru still continued to walk forward, as if he was completely unaffected by smell, which made no sense with his keen nose.

When they walked closer to the oni, stepping carefully over falling bodies, Kagome could see with some amount of relief, that he was eating not corpses, but their weapons instead. His skin, from up close, wasn’t just grey too – it was the color of steel and was gleaming like a sheet of metal. Despite the fact that they came to a distance where Kagome could hear him muttering to himself, he still continued to ignore her and Sesshomaru.

"Crappy steel…" oni grumbled after chewing on a katana. Spitting, he threw it away and grabbed a naginata from the pile of weapons near him. "I hope this one is better, or this whole army will be a waste of time."

"Oni," Sesshomaru called coldly. "Do not ignore this Sesshomaru's presence."

"Huh? And why shouldn't I, mutt?" the weapon-eating youkai seemed unimpressed by Sesshomaru murderous visage. He looked the dog youkai over from his impressive height (the oni was at least twice as tall as Sesshomaru), taking the most interest in his armor and sword. "Well, I guess this sword should taste better than humans' steel. Give it, your armor, and your human wench to me, and maybe I, Tetsumeshi-sama, is going to spare your life!"

"Fool," was the only word Sesshomaru said, before sprinting towards the oni to attack. For some reason he moved much slower than Kagome remembered him be able to, and she had a distinct impression that he was playing with his prey again. Both fighters completely ignored her presence, and after some consideration she decided that it was for the best, before making a few steps away just in case. With that, Kagome clenched her fists, hard. ' _And I hope that Sesshomaru will teach you some manners! Who the hell you think you are to call me wench?_ '

Sesshomaru jumped up and struck with his claws, but instead of a deep wound they left just a scratch on the oni's naked chest. When the dog youkai retreated momentarily, looking over Tetsumeshi with a predator's gleam of an eye, the oni laughed arrogantly.

"You won't be able to make a dent in my steel body, mutt, and my teeth will soon crunch on your bones!" he bragged before striking back with his fist. Sesshomaru dodged the punch with effortless grace and unsheathed his sword.

' _Why did he take out Tenseiga? He told me herself that it's useless in battle!_ ' Kagome thought in confusion, continuing to look at the fight. Thankfully, opponents were slow enough for her to be able to see them move instead of just blurs.

"Try to eat that," Sesshomaru replied, swinging Tenseiga right into oni's half-opened mouth. He closed his jaws the next instant, chomping hard, only to open them second later in a howl of pain.

"My teeth! Damn you, mutt! I am going to kill you and then eat this sword whole!" Tetsumeshi screamed shrilly, launching a flurry of attacks at Sesshomaru, all of which were dodged just as effortlessly as the first one. "Stop dancing around and let me hit you!"

Next punch Sesshomaru caught with his palm. "What a disappointment," he snorted, closing his claws around the oni's fist. "And this Sesshomaru hoped to make a decent sword out of you."

Kagome could see acid from his claws corroding and melting steel fingers. The oni cried out in pain again and moved to attack with another hand, but at this moment Sesshomaru suddenly let him go. Tetsumeshi stumbled, and it was then that Sesshomaru jumped up to his chest and struck again, his claws effortlessly melting their way inside of the oni's ribcage, before he tore out the oni's still beating heart and crushed it in his hand and leaving Tetsumeshi's dead body to still stand straight when Sesshomaru disengaged and started to walk away. After a moment the oni's body dropped down too, its weight making ground tremble under Kagome's feet.

"So-o, this was what we were doing all the time, right, Sesshomaru-sama?" Kagome wondered, when the two of them left the battlefield and ventured towards nearest body of water to wash blood from Sesshomaru's hand and clothes. "I mean, looking around for strong youkai and defeating them. Except this one wasn’t really strong."

Sesshomaru nodded in response. Kagome continued:

"But we were walking around for a week and this is the first time you fought someone," she said in confusion. "I know I felt some youkai around us before, but are strong ones really so rare?"

"Strong enough to attract attention of this Sesshomaru – yes," he replied with an unmistakable pride. "This oni was of interest only because his body smelled of all the steel he ate."

"I see," Kagome said thoughtfully. She wondered about how many strong youkai died because of ambitions of those like Sesshomaru.

***

Another week of travels later Kagome was enjoying a good soak in natural hot spring. She was unsure if bringing her there was another unbelievable show of Sesshomaru's care for her, or he just grew tired of the scent of her body odor, but Kagome was glad for the opportunity none the less. She even gathered some herbs to replace missing soap beforehand, so she could wash herself better. And now that she was done with that part, Kagome was just relaxing in hot water, reminiscing on her tutelage under Sesshomaru's wing.

After her first meditation Sesshomaru didn’t asked her to do this again, thankfully, instead making her memorize even more things about dog youkai. He declared that if Kagome couldn’t transform partially without going mad, then she should prepare herself for transforming all at once without trying to do this little by little. This was, supposedly, much more risky, and Sesshomaru was making sure that Kagome could recite everything she should be able to even when woken up in the middle of the night (which he actually did once, that jerk!).

They also didn’t meet any other 'interesting' by Sesshomaru's standards youkai, and weak ones didn’t tried to engage them. Humans probably could have, but travels of the duo brought them to places that were populated far too sparsely for bandits to be a usual sight to see.

Sudden feeling of someone's strong hand clamping on her mouth made Kagome shriek (well, try to) on reflex. She didn’t felt any aura behind her, didn’t hear a sound, and was caught completely unaware.

"Quiet, priestess," unfamiliar male voice was whispering in her ear at the same time as Kagome saw another hand bring sharp claws to her neck. She could feel her assailant's hot breath on her skin. "You don’t want to get hurt, after all, aren’t you?"

Kagome was too afraid to do anything but nod weakly. She didn’t knew who or what the person behind her was, but she could tell that he was strong enough to hide from her at the very least – and that he currently had his claws way too close to her trachea.

"Good girl," the voice whispered again. "Now, get up. Slowly. No tricks, if you want to live a little bit longer."

' _What does he want with me?_ ' On shaking knees and trying to cover herself with her hands at least a little, Kagome rose up. She still couldn’t see her assailant. Kagome felt like she will soon start to transform from sheer stress. It was surely a possibility, but for now she tried to calm down both herself and her blood. ' _I will try to explore other possibilities first._ ' She knew that Sesshomaru was probably somewhere not so far away. Surely he will hear if she screams…

That option was closed for her next instant, though, when her assailant stuck a cloth gag in her mouth and put his hand away. Next went her hands – he easily wrangled them from her chest, and set to tie them behind her back. That was the opportunity Kagome was waiting for – his claws now were out of her face and she flared her reiki with all her might. She heard an angry hiss behind her, but her assailant still held tight.

"You really hold a sting in you, priestess. I am sure now that you will be just as tasty as you look… I could have eaten you right on this spot, but I have more plans for you, sadly," he said, tightening up ropes on her wrists, before grabbing Kagome on her waist and throwing over his shoulder. She could see his naked back right before her nose. The skin was, for some reason, of a deep red color.

' _My butt now is right around his face!_ ' Kagome realized this obvious problem of her position in the next moment. Instead of being mortified, though, she just felt very gross. At the same time, her kidnapper took off in the sky, flying fast into direction that Kagome could recognize as eastern one thanks to the sun that was shining in her eyes when she managed to lift her head a bit. The wind was quickly drying up her wet skin, making her shiver with cold, and a shoulder was steadily making a bruise on her stomach. She couldn’t even try to burn her assailant with reiki again for fear of falling down.

' _I hope that someone saves me before I became food,_ ' Kagome prayed with tears in her eyes. ' _And I really hope, in case that nobody does, that this youkai didn’t mean 'eating' me as some sort of sexual innuendo.'_

***

Sun had time to lower itself down a disk when Kagome's kidnapper finally landed again. She could see him passing corridors of some sort of building, maybe a mansion, before sharp claws suddenly tore down ropes on her hands and the priestess was thrown down in a spacious wooden cage, door of which was closed right behind her.

Her palms were full of pins and needles from a sudden rush of blood, but using the opportunity she hurried to take a gag out of her mouth. After that, covering herself with her hands again - more to stave away the cold than from modesty - she turned to finally take a look at her kidnapper.

He was a tall youkai, and his human form was very well done, that Kagome now could say with some knowledge. His short hair and eyes were black, but his skin was red. A long and very sharp-looking crimson horn was growing out of his forehead. His face was smooth and symmetrical, but wasn’t as well-proportioned as Sesshomaru's, even though it still was decidedly inhuman and good-looking. He was wearing only a loincloth, but it was a very luxurious-looking one and was most probably made from silk.

He was looking back at Kagome with a hungry gleam in his eye, and she crawled back as far as her cage allowed. "Who are you? What do you want from me?" she asked, trying to sound strong.

"My name is Seimeshi," he replied in pleasant tone, all while continuing to devour Kagome with his eyes. "You, my dear, going to be a bait for the killer of my younger brother, and after I am done with him - my dinner."

"What are you talking about?" Kagome cried out in protest in confusion. "This is nonsense! I don’t know who killed you brother, and I am sure I can't be a bait for this person!"

"Not at all," Seimeshi denied. "The crows told me that Tetsumeshi, my youngest brother, was slain by hands of a dog youkai who was travelling with a priestess. Don’t get me wrong, Tetsu-kun was the weakest and the dumbest of all my brothers, but he was also _the last one!_ "

In a completely sudden after his previous calm attitude outburst, Seimeshi's aura suddenly exploded, filling the room like a storm of wrath that washed over Kagome in a scorching wave that left her skin pink with burns and her insides on fire from bothered youki. She started to take deep breath in an attempt to calm down.

"So," Seimeshi continued again like nothing happened. "I don’t know for what reason this mutt was hauling you around, but I know for sure that he will follow your trail right into my trap. Dogs are stupid like that. For now, priestess, just enjoy my hospitality."

With a relaxed wave of his hand, Seimeshi left, leaving Kagome alone again. Naked, bruised, a bit hungry and very, very stressed out both by the situation she was in and possible implications of her being stressed, she distracted herself by looking around her cage and the room that it was in, in hopes to find something that will help her to escape.

Cage was a simple thing, but more than sturdy enough to survive any assault possible from Kagome's side. She also had nothing with which to even try to break open the lock. Room wasn’t much more interesting or promising – it was completely bare, with only light coming from the windows on the wall, and not very big. The only features of note were ofudas that were attached to the each corner of the room. Squinting her eyes and reaching out with her reiki she tried to discern what they were for. They looked like a barrier of sorts, but were deactivated right now. Were they a trap? How could her kidnapper put them there, when he was a youkai? Then again, her reiki was strong enough to purify on the spot all youkai she tried to before (she didn’t tried that on Sesshomaru, though, and he ignored Kikyo's power, but her barrier held against his claws), and this one just shrugged it off.

Sighing, Kagome leaned on one of the walls of her cage and hugged her knees for warmth. She wanted to return home, chat with Haruko, cook dinner together on the shrine kitchen and forget the whole last month so much, that if she still had the Shikon with her, she'd be very tempted to use it for that. But she hadn’t anyway, so this was a moot point. ' _And why I must be the one suffering because of something that Sesshomaru did?.._ '

***

When sun sat behind the horizon and room was thrown in the dark, Kagome stopped counting down snags on boards of her cage, closed her eyes and tried to sleep. She didn’t know if Sesshomaru was really going to save her. She had an idea that Seimeshi was counting on his instinctual possessiveness to make him came to his trap, but Kagome was well aware, that a beast in human skin or not, Sesshomaru had good self-control and probably didn’t held her person in high regard. She wasn’t putting it above him to just leave her to rot.

Sleep didn’t come. Anger flew away long ago to change with fear for her life, which in turn had enough time to settle in, find itself a cozy place in her skull and calm down. Now Kagome felt very empty besides the tiny glimmer of hope for a savior to come for her. ' _I wonder how much time Seimeshi will keep me alive if Sesshomaru won't come, before killing me._ ' She also wanted to cry badly, but was holding it up, not willing to show weakness in a face of danger.

Her musings were interrupted by an approach of an angry, powerful and familiar aura. A loud howl of a dog, full of malice, was heard from somewhere far away. ' _It's Sesshomaru! He actually came for me!_ ' Kagome thought, standing up on her feet in excitement. Without conscious thought she came to the side of the cage that was closest to him. ' _But this is a trap! What if he will get caught?_ ' her elation quickly was laced with concern.

"Ah, the main guest had finally arrived," the voice of Kagome's captor suddenly pierced the silence of the room. She jerked away from it on reflex, before realizing that he again managed to caught her unaware and scowling. Then, she heard a clap of hands and ghostly green flying lights lit up in corners of the room, hiding ofudas of the barrier behind them and lighting up the space at the same time. Kagome squinted to shield her dark-accustomed eyes from light. She could feel Sesshomaru approaching very fast.

"He will kill you," Kagome told with a newfound spite in her voice. "He will tear you apart, Seimeshi, and then there will be no sons left for your parents, do you hear me?!"

"Priestess…" Seimeshi hissed, throwing her a look full of hate. "Do not think I will forget your words after I avenge my brother and drag you out of this cage. Oh, no. I will boil you alive and your screams will be pleasing my ears before your flesh will please my stomach, and your powers will join those of all the monks and priestesses I ate before!"

' _Was this why I couldn’t purify him earlier?_ ' Kagome shivered, but held his gaze. She knew the feeling of boiling alive from the inside well – this wasn’t scaring her too much. ' _And if worst comes to worst, I may still be able to claw his throat out when he doesn’t expect it._ '

"If so, I hope you choke," she snapped back. It was then that the Sesshomaru broke in the room through window, making splinters fly everywhere. Kagome backed away, shielding her naked body with her hands, while Seimeshi seemed to be completely unaffected by a grand entrance.

"Tell this Sesshomaru, corpse," Sesshomaru asked, walking further into the room. His gait was completely nonchalant, as if he was just taking a stroll in a garden. "Why would you steal something from him, if there is no need for earthly possessions in the Underworld?"

Before Seimeshi had a chance to reply something (though his open mouth was showing that he wanted to), Kagome shouted:

"Sesshomaru this room is a trap! You must-"

Her words were interrupted by a sparkle of power that was unmistakable holy, but at the same time definitely not Kagome's. It encircled the room in a barrier, and after feeling for its source the priestess with disbelief found out that it was coming from Seimeshi.

"Too late for warnings now, priestess," he said with a smug smile and looked at Sesshomaru. "There is no escape for you now."

"And no need for it," Sesshomaru replied, brandishing his claws. They glowed with dangerous green.

"So you say now, but this was only a half of my trap," with that, Seimeshi clapped his hands again, and the power that before was only felt around the room's walls rushed inside of it like a waterfall. It was deafening and confusing, and only when Kagome found herself lying on the floor with her youki and reiki fluctuating chaotically, she realized what the barrier was truly doing. It was suppressing youki.

She raised her eyes to look on Sesshomaru. He was still standing, but his hands were now both on his sides and his claws weren’t glowing anymore. The only truly unaffected person in the room seemed to be Seimeshi himself.

"And now that you are powerless, I, Seimeshi, will avenge my brother, Tetsumeshi! Don’t forget to tell him who exactly killed you, when you meet him in the Underworld!" the youkai snarled, charging at Sesshomaru with an image-blurring speed. The dog youkai dodged, but Kagome could see that his movements were noticeable more restrained than usual. Then she felt her blood boiling and the fight became last of her problems.

' _I am going to start transforming now,_ ' was one of her last coherent thoughts. ' _I must try to control it. Direct it somehow…_ '

It was hard to remember anything now, but Sesshomaru did a good job at not letting her forget important things no matter what. And so Kagome recalled his lecture on how instincts were just as part of chosen form as body features, and how a transforming person was also partially assuming the instincts of the form he was transforming to.

So Kagome concentrated on her ever-changing youki and pushed it towards the instinct to protect what was hers: her life, her dignity, her _teacher_. She wasn’t sure if it worked or not before pain finally completely overcame her ability to think.

After that Kagome just acted. First victims of her actions were bars of the cage – two swings of her talons and they became splinters. She could feel the barrier seeping on her strength and slowing her down, but it wasn't as strong as her own reiki. It only made her youki fight more defiantly. Then Kagome's sights were set on a person who was encroaching what was _hers_.

She had names, but they were very irrelevant right now. Two figures locked in a battle were just 'hers' and 'one that was going to die'. The second one already put few wounds on Kagome's one, so her urge to tear the already doomed one apart became even stronger. She gave into it, relishing into temporal reprieve from her constant pain that it brought, and dove into fight.

She clawed and bit and occasionally hit with whatever other limb she could find on her body at the moment. The doomed one was fast to turn on her and defend himself, but the hers one was still fighting too, and turning his back to him was the last mistake of the doomed one, and one that cost him his head.

With that, the holy power that was leaving the dead one snapped like a sting and a suppressing feeling around Kagome disappeared. It felt good, despite her feeling generally very, very bad at the moment. She protected what was hers, but she was still in horrible pain. She needed to take it out on something, or better someone, but the only person around was hers to protect…

A cold shower of familiar youki took Kagome out of this dilemma. When her reiki shifted and flared back, before finally returning to its proper place in Kagome's body, the priestess fell down on the floor like a marionette whose strings were cut. She could taste the prickly tang of Seimeshi's blood on her tongue, but couldn’t find in herself to even feel nauseous now, not to mention embarrassed over her nudity.

She heard a rustle of metal and cloth above her, but didn’t think anything of that before something white and silky fell down on her body. Surprised, Kagome raised her eyes up to see Sesshomaru without his armor and in one layer of clothes less than usual. He ignored her, instead coming up to Seimeshi's head and grabbing it on his horn, before returning to the priestess. When Kagome felt Sesshomaru's hands picking her up, she finally allowed her consciousness to leave her completely, knowing that he wasn’t going to just leave her to rot.


	11. Of swords and smiths

Kagome opened her eyes with a start to see a familiar view of Sesshomaru, who was sitting near a tree with his eyes closed. Then she saw a severed head that was lying near his feet and memories or last night events rushed into her head. She gagged, scrambling to her hands and knees in hurry, and threw up, barely managing not to do so right on Sesshomaru's pelt that she was wrapped in.

The sound or Kagome's retching made Sesshomaru open his eyes. To her surprise, he didn’t seem to be disgusted. His face, as it was most of the time, was completely impassive. He also wasn’t saying anything, so for now Kagome decided to ignore him. She looked around the camp, noting that her clothes were nearby and, thankfully, to the other side of her than the vomit. Kagome moved away from it together with the pelt, before plucking out some grass stalks to wipe her mouth. She could see that some vomit fell on her hair. ' _Yuck._ '

Then the general familiarity of the place clicked in Kagome's mind and she realized that Sesshomaru brought her to the same camp near hot spring, where they stopped last evening. Judging by the fact that it was morning already, Kagome could see that she slept through a whole night – longer than after her last transformation. Right now, though, she felt quite refreshed – and in a great, great need of bath. She couldn't feel a taste of blood under a taste of her vomit, but could see crusted blood on her hands. Only Sesshomaru somehow managed to look pristine, though he had the whole night to clean himself up.

Carefully, and not unwrapping the pelt from around her, since she was still naked under it (even though Sesshomaru had a prime opportunity to see everything already), Kagome stood up. She needed to wash herself – and badly. But even the thought of being alone, naked and vulnerable so soon after her kidnapping was making her panic a little. And between her fear and her modesty, fear was winning by a wide margin.

"Sesshomaru-sama," Kagome asked with a slight trepidation. She hoped he will not misunderstand her request, and will not deny it. "Can you watch over me when I bathe, please?"

Sesshomaru nodded, and Kagome felt a little more relieved. "You didn’t need to ask," he added, and that made Kagome stop in her tracks.

' _Wait, did he just meant that he would have watched over me when I'd bathed no matter if I asked or not?_ ' she mentally translated. For a moment, she felt angry, but then the feeling went away just as it came, changing with gratitude. ' _I guess that means that Sesshomaru is somewhat affected by what happened as well… He wasn't that worried over me before._ '

Without spending any more time thinking, Kagome picked up her clothes and moved towards the hot spring. Sesshomaru was walking behind her with his pelt still wrapped around the priestess, which created associations of a dog on a leash in Kagome's head. Thankfully, he himself didn’t seem to come up with similar ideas. And it was only when Kagome submerged in hot spring's water right together with the pelt that Sesshomaru said something.

"What are you doing with this Sesshomaru's fur, priestess?" he asked with noticeable annoyance in his voice. Kagome smiled back sheepishly, feeling her cheeks turning pink.

"Well… It needs to be washed too! It was lying on the ground all night… And I think there is some dried blood on it," she justified without looking Sesshomaru in the eye. Truth was, that despite what had happened already, now that there was no danger nearby and she felt safe under Sesshomaru's watch, Kagome suddenly had all the time in the world to feel body shy. And so she did with a vengeance. The fact that Sesshomaru wasn’t turning his back to the spring to give her at least some privacy wasn’t helping.

"There are no reasons for your modesty now, priestess," Sesshomaru replied with a raised eyebrow before sitting down on a bank of the hot spring. "There are no humans nearby to lust over your body."

Kagome blushed like a tomato and submerged herself in the water up to her chin. ' _Damn, why I am such a bad liar? Or is this because Sesshomaru is so perceptive? Either way, why couldn’t he just leave it alone?!_ '

"And what about you?!" she threw back accusingly.

"This Sesshomaru is not a human and thought you are well aware of this," he replied. When Kagome found courage to lift her gaze to his face she could see amusement in his eyes.

"Ri-i-ight," she drawled, still embarrassed, but now less so, "Dogs don’t wear clothes." It was really, really hard to think of Sesshomaru that was now sitting just few steps away from her, as a giant dog he truly was, but when Kagome tried to do so, it became much easier to ignore his presence.

Sesshomaru only nodded in response, returning to his usual silent self. This made sitting naked in the water near him even more easy, and Kagome finally unwrapped his pelt from around her to wash it and herself in warm water. When she was done, she put it on the bank of the spring to dry, before putting her head on it and just relaxing. Right now Kagome could almost forget everything bad that happened to her. Almost.

"Thank you for rescuing me yesterday, Sesshomaru-sama," she said quietly, looking at the clear blue sky. "If this youkai attacked me when I was protecting Shikon no Tama, he probably would have gotten it easily. I hadn’t noticed his approach at all. He shook off my holy powers like they were nothing."

"He was a strong and unusual opponent," admitted Sesshomaru. "His horn will make a fine weapon for this Sesshomaru."

' _So was this why he brought that severed head to our camp?_ ' Kagome realized. She remembered now some legends she learned as a priestess, which told her that oni's powers were concentrated in their horns. And while Seimeshi had a human form, it made sense that if his brother was oni, he was oni too.

"So you did get what you wanted after all," Kagome snorted. And she was still the one at the brunt end of things.

***

"Don't make me laugh," said youkai swordsmith, examining Seimeshi's head. "You can't make a good sword out of this dead meat. And even if it was alive, I still wouldn’t be able to smith it. This horn is filled with reiki!"

"And who would have been able to?" asked Sesshomaru with displeased look in his eyes. Kagome just hoped that they both will leave soon. The necklace that the youkai smith was wearing looked like it was made out of _babies' skulls_ (even if they were too small to belong to human babies)! As a priestess, she had a duty of eliminating abominations like that person. Things that Sesshomaru shared to her about him earlier only steeled her in that decision.

"I doubt anyone besides my late teacher Totosai could," the smith grumbled. "Curse that old man."

"Then you are useless now," Sesshomaru concluded, turning his back to the swordsmith. "Priestess, you may do whatever you wish."

With that, Kagome readily drew her bow. Today was the day when world will be made on one evil swordsmith cleaner.

***

"So, if Totosai is the best youkai smith in Japan, why we went to the second-best first?" Kagome asked Sesshomaru when the she could see a house made out of giant skull on the horizon. ' _And why youkai smiths like skulls so much?_ ' she thought. At least this one seemed to belong to something adult.

"Because Totosai refuses to make a sword for this Sesshomaru," he replied, stopping on the spot and unsheathing Tenseiga. "He has an audacity to say that this Sesshomaru has one great sword made by him already."

Kagome watched, transfixed, as he glared at something unseen to her and swung the blade over severed head in his hand. Then she shrieked in horror as Seimeshi's eyes opened and his lips curved in a silent scream.

"The head will live for a while longer," Sesshomaru said, throwing it at Kagome, who barely managed to catch it on reflex, only to drop it in horror a moment later. "Take it to Totosai and convince him to make a sword out of the horn, priestess. This Sesshomaru doesn’t care how you will do it, but advises you to not mention his name."

' _Gods,_ ' Kagome thought, gulping, as she grabbed Seimeshi's head on his horn. _'I am so glad that he can't talk without his lungs._ ' She glared at the back of already leaving Sesshomaru, before turning to opposite direction. ' _Warn me the next time, will you?_ '

Despite the generally dark landscape of volcano around, the atmosphere near the skull-house was almost peaceful. There was even a cow strolling nearby – a youkai three-eyed cow. When it didn’t try to attack Kagome, she decided to ignore it for now and continued to walk towards the Totosai's dwelling. Coming closer, she could hear voices – and one was even familiar…

"What a fine sake you have there, Totosai!" someone said contentedly. The name to its owner was sitting on the end of Kagome's tongue.

"Ah, but had you tried out the one that they made when I was young…" another voice, completely unfamiliar, replied wistfully, "Now that was a real thing – could knock you out with one cup!"

Deciding that listening to two old geezers remembering their youth wasn’t what Kagome wanted to spend her time on right now, she hastened her steps, coming to the skull-house entrance. ' _The faster I am done here, the faster I will get rid of this head!_ '

"Hello?" she said, looking inside. There, she could see, indeed, two old men: one that was unmistakably Myoga, with tiny cute cup of sake in his hands, and another one of normal size, skeleton-thin and bug-eyed. "Oh, glad to see you, Myoga-san. And you must be the swordsmith Totosai, right?"

"Kagome-sama!" greeted her Myoga. "I see that you are well! But what are you doing there, so far from your shine?"

"Oh, is this the girl you talked about, Myoga?" Totosai asked, shifting his eyes between Kagome and Myoga and back. "And what I can do for you?"

"I came for a sword, of course, Totosai-sama," Kagome replied with a greeting bow and lifted up the head in her hand. "Can you make one out of this horn?"

Totosai leaned in, inspecting the head that glared daggers at him. Myoga jumped closer as well, sitting down on Kagome's wrist.

  
"Hm-m, he seemed to be beheaded by someone's claws. You didn’t kill this oni by yourself, right?" Myoga wondered.

"I have stumbled on his corpse by accident," Kagome lied, letting out a breath of relief when Totosai took the head from her hands. "I need a sword, and I know that youkai slayers make armor and weapons out of youkai bones. And I heard that you, Totosai-sama, are best swordsmith in Japan, so…"

Totosai nodded approvingly. "Yes, you came to the right person, girl! I will make a perfect sword for you out of this horn. Return in ten days and it will be ready."

"Ten days?" Kagome asked in shock. "That’s fast. And how much it will cost?"

"This is how good Totosai is!" Myoga bragged, jumping back to his sake and starting to sip it straight out of the bottle with his long flea nose.

"Payment?" Totosai inclined his head in confusion, as if he was hearing the word for a first time in his life. "What payment?"

"For your work," Kagome replied unsurely. ' _Did he just go senile from old age on me?_ '

  
"For my work?" Totosai asked again, scratching his bald forehead.

"Yes, don't you need any?" Kagome asked again, hoping that the old man will knock out of what was wrong with him. "In exchange for the sword?"

"Ah, payment!" the smith said as if he just reached some kind of discovery. "Forget about it, girl! To smith swords is my pleasure, I am not going to sell it!"

"Thank you, for your generosity, Totosai-sama," Kagome said, blinking in a slight shock. Gathering her wits together, she bowed again. "Goodbye, then, Myoga-san, Totosai-sama," the priestess added, leaving the smith's dwelling. Totosai wasn’t what she was expecting, but he seemed to be a good person. And, what Kagome was currently glad the most about - she finally got rid of that head.

***

Ten days later Kagome entered Totosai's house again. She couldn’t see or hear Myoga; though with his size he could have easily been hiding somewhere. The swordsmith himself was sitting near a grinding wheel with sleek grey blade in his hands.

"Hello, Totosai-sama," Kagome greeted, coming closer to the old youkai. "Is my sword ready?"

"Yes, you came just at the right time, girl," Totosai nodded, standing up and cleaning iron dust from the sword in his hands with a piece of cloth, before grabbing a sheath nearby and putting it in. "Here it is, Tsunohiyoru," with those words the blade was suddenly thrust into Kagome's hands.

Even holding it on the sheath she could feel the thrum of power inside. This was a mighty sword, one that will surely appease even a perfectionist like Sesshomaru. Of course, appeasing Sesshomaru wasn't Kagome's purpose in life, but she found that when in good mood (say, like when he was expecting soon to become an owner of a new shiny, sharp toy) he was noticeably more inclined to answer her questions and grant her requests.

"The horn you brought was a really interesting material to work with, girl," Totosai continued to explain. "It belonged to an oni who was filled with anger and hatred to the brim, but spent his whole life eating holy people. Like him, Tsunohiyoru has twin nature, and can channel both reiki and youki. You can try it out! Just not there, please."

Kagome nodded, looking at the sword in her hands in amazement. Indeed, that was sword made specifically for her. If not for her complete lack of any fencing skills, Kagome really wouldn’t have wanted to give it over to Sesshomaru. She bowed low to Totosai.

"Thank you," Kagome said. "It's amazing."

"Hm! Now, finally, someone expresses gratitude like he should. Not like some youngsters those days," Totosai replied, scratching on his nose. Kagome sighed mentally over quirks of old people and, with a goodbye, left to return to Sesshomaru.

He was waiting for her with carefully hidden impatience, but Kagome just _knew_ it was there. In a mood to tempt fate a little, she smiled to her teacher cheerfully and unsheathed the sword. In her hand, instead of murky grey she seen in Totosai's house, sword gleamed with light pink glow of reiki. Holding the sword for its handle, without a barrier of a sheath, Kagome could feel the sheen of holy power within, and below it – the youki. It was as if she was looking inside herself, so similar was the feeling, except both reiki and youki were unfamiliar to her.

"Look!" Kagome said, swinging Tsunohiyoru to show off. Its gleam left beautiful transparent trails in the air. "It's so pretty!"

Sesshomaru seemed unimpressed by the show, instead just reaching his hand out expectantly. His eyes told Kagome enough about his lack of patience right now, and with a disappointed sigh she sheathed the sword again and gave it over. For a moment Sesshomaru just inspected the sword, before taking it on the handle. Suddenly, his face darkened considerably.

"Is something wrong?" Kagome asked, watching as Sesshomaru unsheathed the sword. In his hands it had dark violet color that she sometimes seen on youkai's miasma. Then, Sesshomaru sheathed Tsunohiyoru again and suddenly just threw it on the ground.

"Totosai…" Sesshomaru growled murderously, looking at the palm of the hand with which he was holding the sword. "And you!"

"Me?" Kagome said, backing off fearfully. She had no idea what went bad, but she had never seen Sesshomaru this angry before. She could see that he was starting to even lose hold of his human form – his eyes were tinged red and his fangs seemed to be longer. "What's wrong?" she repeated.

"I cannot hold this sword!" Sesshomaru grit out, his usual manner of speech seemingly forgotten, and made a step forward. Kagome remembered about chase instinct and gathered all her courage together to stay in place. "Just like Tessaiga, it burns my hand!" he thrust his palm forward. Kagome's eyes widened when she saw blisters and red skin on it. "What's the point of a sword I cannot hold?"

"Sorry!" Kagome squeaked. "I didn’t tell him about you, so Totosai thought it was for me! I didn’t thought you won't be able to use it, Sesshomaru-sama. Honestly!"

Sesshomaru growled again, now without words. He seemed to have taken hold on his human form, but coldness in his eyes showed that his anger didn’t diminish any. He made another step forward and was now so close that he could have bitten off Kagome's face if he wanted to. When he leaned in, Kagome was afraid that he just might.

"Then you will wield it for this Sesshomaru," he said slowly. Kagome gulped.

"But I don't know a thing about swordplay. I only learned archery and a bit of knife-fighting," she protested weakly. With that, Sesshomaru smiled and chuckled darkly, making Kagome even more afraid for her life.

"This Sesshomaru will teach you," he said. Kagome had no illusions that he will not beat her black and blue in the process. It seemed that even when she was getting something good for her troubles, bad things came together as well.


	12. Bringing a girl over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations of the original names used in the fic up to this point:  
> Haruko - spring child.  
> Tetsumeshi - iron meal.  
> Seimeshi - holy meal.  
> Tsunohiyoru - horn of day-night.
> 
> Those are probably not very grammatically correct from the viewpoint of japanese language, but as an author I was intending for them to mean what I wrote above, so enjoy.  
> 'Ryokami' and 'Kurama' aren't original names.
> 
> Also, since I wrote the note anyway, know that every and each of your comments is appreciated, readers ;3

Thankfully, after that outburst Sesshomaru returned back to his mostly usual cold self, even if he was acting icier than normally. Kagome could bear a cold shoulder from him with little to no problems, especially when she understood the source of Sesshomaru's anger and even sympathized to him a little. To find that second sword that he was anticipating to hold in his hands was unreachable to him by design, even if it wasn’t done on purpose (Kagome was sure that reiki in Tsunohiyoru will burn hand of any youkai that would try to hold it, not only Sesshomaru), was a quite cruel mockery of fate.

Instead of continuing to wander around aimlessly, though, Sesshomaru transformed in his true form and made Kagome ride him across the sky towards west. She could see them flying above the city of Kyoto, recognizable by its palace that could only belong to the Emperor, and further towards the sea, and even when sun hid behind horizon and the moon's crescent became clearly seen in the sky, they still did not stop. At some point Kagome ate couple of wild apples that were last of her current food supply and began to doze off on Sesshomaru's wide back. She only completely woke up when the dog youkai finally descended towards the earth.

He landed down on a bank of a lake near a tall waterfall that was filling air around with moisture and noise, and transformed back, barely letting Kagome to climb off him before she fell. She looked around, absorbing the enchanting view of moonlight reflecting on water surfaces. In sunny days places like those were always decorated with rainbows. This place and now was lit by fireflies instead.

"Follow," Sesshomaru threw at her, walking over water-smoothed stones that were protruding from the lake towards the waterfall. His steps were so sure, that Kagome could have thought that he was walking on the water itself; the priestess, for her turn, needed to be very careful on slippery stones to not fall face first in the water. In the weak light of moon and stars she could only see the lake's dark surface that gave Kagome no idea how truly deep it was.

When she saw Sesshomaru's pale silhouette, framed by a halo of a youki barrier that wasn't letting any water to touch his clothes, move through the curtain of the waterfall, Kagome only managed to walk few steps away from the shore. And the youkai never stopped to wait for her, even when she shouted for him to. So by the time when Kagome finally entered the cave entrance that was hiding behind the waterfall, she was completely drenched, in a very bad mood, and knew how deep exactly the lake was.

"Sesshomaru-sama?" she cried out questioningly. The insides of the cave were completely dark, but knowing that Sesshomaru was inside somewhere, she traced wet walls with her hands and carefully walked forward. "Where are you? Could have you just waited, no?"

"Cease your whining, priestess," Kagome heard Sesshomaru's annoyed voice from somewhere deep inside. Using it as a reference point, she continued to go forward, before an idea suddenly hit her head. Cursing at herself that she didn’t thought about it before, Kagome drew Tsunohiyoru out of its sheath on her belt and watched how its pale pink glow illuminated the place. ' _This may be not the best way to use such a sword, but it sure is convenient. If I tried to channel my reiki into something else for same effect, the item would have probably turned into dust in a few heartbeats._ '

Now that she could see narrow, rough corridor around her, Kagome started to walk more confidently. Soon she saw a partition, made seemingly out of oiled skins, that was ahead of her. Pulling it to the side, she came through and gasped involuntarily.

While technically a room before her eyes could have been called a den, it was much more luxurious than any den Kagome had even seen before – or many rich mansions. The place itself was a large cave, big enough to fit Sesshomaru in his true form twice, but there were many improvements made to it, such as piles of furs and pillows that were covering every bit of the floor, shelves full of scrolls and books, a low writing table, some other pieces of furniture, and blue ghost lights that were lighting up the space. Walls were decorated with paintings and calligraphy. Kagome could also see corridors that were leading to some other parts of the cave system. And Sesshomaru himself, of course, who was looking at her with amusement and waiting for her to stop gawking.

Kagome closed her opened mouth with a snap, sheathed Tsunohiyoru, left her wet sandals at the entrance near Sesshomaru's boots, and came in, enjoying the feel of warm furs between her cold, wet toes. The insides of the den were dry and warm, but not stifling. Kagome shivered anyway – her clothes were completely soaked and she could feel the chill seeping through.

"I need some dry clothes now," she complained, looking over her worn out priestess garb. Weeks of travel without a needle did a number on it. Holes were everywhere. "And a sewing kit, I guess."

"Just take them off, priestess," Sesshomaru said dismissingly. "Tomorrow this Sesshomaru and you will visit a human city and will buy all items of need."

Kagome blushed, but started to disrobe. Sesshomaru had already shown and told to her that her body wasn't even remotely interesting to him. And when in dog's den, do as dogs do…

"Why only just now?" Kagome still couldn’t help but ask. After putting aside her outer clothes she was left completely naked, but Sesshomaru didn’t spare her body any inappropriate glances. "I could have used some travel supplies long ago! More so, I could have just taken some from the shrine when we took off."

That was a question that plagued Kagome for a while. She forgot about it at some point, just accepting Sesshomaru's strange quirks – it was easy to do so when her mind was busy memorizing all the stuff that the dog youkai was cramming inside of it, not to mention their other adventures. But now that he reminded her of it, the question returned with vengeance.

"This Sesshomaru travels light and expects the same from his followers," the youkai replied and started to take off his armor. It was then that the reality of Sesshomaru bringing her to his home finally hit Kagome.

"So this is where you live when you don’t wander everywhere?" she asked in awe and grabbed a pelt from the floor to dry herself up and cover her nudity a little. "What's down those corridors?"

"There are many rooms, not all of them used by this Sesshomaru," he replied, putting the last piece of his armor on the rack near wall and seating Tenseiga on a stand nearby. Kagome noted how much more approachable he seemed to be without his weapons and armor. ' _I guess it's all because of the spikes._ ' "Explore for yourself," Sesshomaru added tonelessly, taking off his clothes as well.

Seeing this, Kagome blushed furiously, turning away. When they were travelling, he was always sleeping in his clothes or true form, and while he might not have had any problems with Kagome's nudity, that didn’t meant she wasn't unaffected by his! Thankfully, when she had courage to look at Sesshomaru again, he was wrapped in his pelt and burrowed in furs so deeply that she could only see his head and hands peeking outside – really beautiful, chiseled hands. Kagome shook her head, throwing away inappropriate thoughts.

She would have probably explored the place a little, if not for the yawn that came out of her mouth. "Tomorrow," she declared, looking for a coziest spot to lie down for night. Unsurprisingly, the place with the softest furs and most luxurious pillows was where Sesshomaru himself lied down. After a moment's pause, Kagome curled into ball near his back, soon drifting into restful sleep, and not even thinking about how scandalous or strange this position would have been seemed to her just a month ago.

***

The city that Sesshomaru mentioned day earlier was built near the same river that hid his den. It was big and bustling with people, many of which took notice of Sesshomaru and Kagome's presence. People's attention wasn't a new thing for Kagome, but presence of Sesshomaru near her made her afraid of the possibility of it turning malicious. He was a youkai, after all, and recognizably so. So it was a wonder for her, when she noticed not only evil looks from townspeople, but those of admiration and awe as well. Sesshomaru ignored both.

He was walking purposefully around the marketplace, his presence alone easily parting the crowd. Kagome needed to almost run at times to match his long strides, and she could tell that he was somewhat uncomfortable by rigidness of his spine. Still, he was buying everything Kagome asked from him, easily finding every item and paying for them handsomely; he also bought few things for himself. Some shopkeepers even knew his name.

"Do you often just walk around human cities like this?" Kagome asked when they were finally done with their purchases and the city in general. Like a true noble and a slavedriver, Sesshomaru burdened her with all of them, despite him being a hundred times stronger. But Kagome knew better than to complain.

"When need arises," he replied, turning on the road that was leading towards his den. By the fact that he answered her question Kagome concluded that he was now in much better mood than yesterday and decided to exploit the opportunity to learn more about her teacher.

"The people here seem to know you, Sesshomaru-sama," she added. When Sesshomaru didn’t say anything in response, Kagome went on with pulling his teeth. "Why so? I don't think you appear there so often that they would actually remember your name."

"Some time ago this city was a capital of my father's lands," Sesshomaru finally said after a pause so long that Kagome almost started to think that she will need to give up. "Wisest families passed the names and markings of ruling family from generation to generation. Thanks to this Sesshomaru's reappearances, they still do so."

"Wait, your father was a daimyo?" Kagome asked in disbelief. Her temporary distraction almost cost her a fall under the weight of her load. "But he was a youkai!"

  
"He conquered these lands by his own power, and the Emperor's dynasty had no other choice but to let him rule over them, or perish," Sesshomaru replied. The tale was told coldly, as if he himself, for some reason, disapproved.

"Why you don’t rule instead of him now, Sesshomaru-sama? You told me that you were his firstborn, so you are the heir…" Kagome wondered. "And if this because you didn’t wanted to, why Inuyasha doesn’t?"

"Don't remind me of this scum," Sesshomaru threw at her together with a scathing look. Kagome shivered, but her eyes were still on the prize.

"Sesshomaru-sama-a…" she whined, carefully watching Sesshomaru's lips out of the corner of her eye. Over time Kagome learned of that important point of his temper, when he pursed his lips just so, and if she continued to annoy him after that, proceeded to punish her immediately. Since this morning Sesshomaru already promised to start her swords training as soon as they will return from the city, Kagome didn’t want to test his patience.

"When my father died, Inuyasha was only a newborn, and the province was torn apart by a rebellion" Sesshomaru replied. "Nor he, nor any person willing to act as a regent, were able to take and keep control over the daimyo's seal for more than a few years at a time."

"Those were probably such a dark times, especially for Inuyasha," Kagome thought aloud mournfully. She didn’t had very positive opinion on half-youkai in question, but nobody should be orphaned in birth like this only to end up a pawn in a game of politics. She wondered how Sesshomaru reacted to the death of his father at the time, and what happened to his mother. Was she killed as well? What about Inuyasha's mother?

But she knew better than to ask now, when Sesshomaru pursed his lips in annoyance and anger, and kept her questions for another time.


	13. Riding the waves

At some point Kagome was worried that sword training will leave her less time to learn about youkai transformations, which was more important thing out of the two. As soon as her first fencing training session commenced though, she realized how wrong she was, but it didn’t brought her much happiness.

Sesshomaru, a logical person he was, decided that since her mouth and ears weren't the parts that held a sword, Kagome could still use them to study, even when her hands and body were busy with exercises. It was an effective strategy, the priestess couldn’t lie; but oh gods it was tiring. When Sesshomaru finally decided to stop torturing her for today, Kagome wanted to just lie down, crawl in some cozy corner of the den and die there. And then take revenge on Sesshomaru's keen nose with the stink of her rotting body. Not only her every muscle felt like a hot piece of lead, her head was bursting with all facts she needed to remember, both swords- and dogs-related. And Sesshomaru didn’t even spar with her today; he was only showing her most basic movements!

But the next day, when Sesshomaru mercifully left Kagome some free time before leaving for a hunt, the priestess finally had the opportunity to explore his den fully. It was a thrilling perspective, and Kagome would have used the opportunity even if her body was cramping from the yesterday's exercises; but to her surprise, she felt completely fresh. In the end, Kagome decided that her youkai blood helped her muscles to heal faster, just as it was helping her with wounds before. Those were very good news to start the day with.

To light her way in dark corridors of the cave system, Kagome took one of the blue ghostly lights that were flying around the den's walls. She heard of them before – these small youkai tended to appear in dark, grim places, like boggy swamps and abandoned villages, feeding on youki and negative emotions. They were completely harmless except for the possibility of their light making a traveller go straight into mire, and glowed brighter than Tsunohiyoru. They were, basically, a spiritual version of mold - convenient, glowing mold. Sesshomaru even had some lamps where you could put one of those wisps.

With a ghost light in her hands and adventurous spirit in her heart, Kagome ventured onto dark cave paths. First one she checked brought her into what could have been weaponry: a room filled with all kinds of armor, and weapons. Kagome could feel power radiating from some of those items and was careful not to touch anything; but she could also notice that there weren’t any swords whose power was comparable to those of Tenseiga or Tsunohiyoru.

There was couple of other storage rooms. Everything in them was carefully packed in chests and shelves, ready to keep safe for years. Kagome passed them by, though she was somewhat curious of what kind of items a person like Sesshomaru would amass in a course of his long, long life.

After that, her path led her to an empty cave with a light hatch in it. Sunlight and fresh air both fell inside through it, and Kagome instantly decided that this room should be her kitchen. Sesshomaru might be fine with only eating raw youkai, but she wanted hot meals! She even bought utensils and ingredients for cooking, but before seeing this room was thinking that she will need to go outside to make fire.

Besides storages and her future kitchen, Kagome found few more empty rooms and what only could be a workshop. It was filled with instruments and benches of all kind, though most of them were weapons-related. There even was a kiln, though Kagome couldn’t see where its draught went. Kagome guessed, that Sesshomaru knew how to not only look after his things, but also how to repair them if necessary. Or maybe one or several of the crafts were his hobby.

At the end of her journey, Kagome decided that living in a cave might sound degrading, but those who thought like that just didn’t seen _some_ caves. Not at the first time the priestess wondered at paradoxical nature of Sesshomaru – despite all his bestial wildness, in many things he was the most refined creature she had even seen.

***

With swords training adding to Kagome and Sesshomaru's schedule, there wasn't much time left for other things. It seemed that those changes and an impossibility of combining them with travelling were the reason for Sesshomaru to bring the two of them to his home, and despite how torturous heavy training regimen was at times in comparison to how it was before, when she only needed to memorize stuff, Kagome was glad to live at one place and have access to comforts of civilization.

In comparison to teaching her about his species, Sesshomaru seemed to be noticeably more interested in teaching Kagome about swordplay. He seemed to be much more passionate about the subject and had much easier time talking about it. At some point, Kagome asked him about items in his collection of weaponry and was gifted with a few stories about how they ended in there. She wasn’t sure what was more interesting – the stories themselves or the rare show of emotion in Sesshomaru's eyes and voice when he was telling them.

Finally, after days of swinging her wooden sword at nothing but air and trees, Kagome was given an honor to actually spar with Sesshomaru. At first she was happy to finally have a legal opportunity to get some revenge for all the times he hit her; but a moment later she realized the impossibility of her landing a hit and despaired.

"One who loses all hope before battle had already lost," Sesshomaru remarked with a swift jab of his wooden sword at Kagome's side. She tried to block it, but failed miserably.

"Ouch!" she cried out, jumping back, and pouted. "I am just realistically access my odds! I have no chance to even touch you, Sesshomaru-sama!"

For that, Sesshomaru poked at her again, but this time Kagome was more prepared and dodged on time.

"The goal is to improve, not to win," he said coolly, moving closer to swing again. "This Sesshomaru is displeased by your lacking motivation to do so."

Kagome felt shivers going down her spine. She failed a block again, but managed to keep her mouth shut this time. Sesshomaru continued to attack her relentlessly, not at his full speed, but still not letting her any chances for counterattacking. He seemed determined to beat some skills into her head whether she wanted it or not. It sort of worked - with each new bruise on her body Kagome felt more determined to block or dodge the next strike. She could also feel how the increasing pain made her inner energies shudder violently.

"Sesshomaru-sama, please, stop it!" Kagome cried out after barely dodging another swing. "I am going to lose control now!"

To her terror, Sesshomaru didn’t even pause his attacks.

"This is why you are learning, priestess," he replied with steel in his voice. "Do not let your blood rule you. Channel it where _you_ want to. This Sesshomaru had seen you do it before, when you attacked that oni…"

With those words, Sesshomaru jabbed at Kagome's side again and she cried out in pain. It seemed to be the last straw for her battered body; she could feel her youki flaring out and starting to burn her alive.

"You… And your teaching methods," Kagome muttered, gathering lasts of her willpower. Sesshomaru's cruel smirk fueled her pain-induced rage even more. Her descent into realm of not-thinking was swifter than ever, but her goals were still clear.

A desire to take her revenge on the person that was standing before her was very, very strong in Kagome. She could feel her body changing for the task, making itself better, closer in abilities to her opponent's. She also wanted to drop the stupid stick from her hand and just use her claws, but for some reason it seemed like a wrong thing to do. It wasn't that important anyway – Kagome knew that letting her rage out would be just as fulfilling with it as it would with her natural weapons.

She charged to attack, swinging at her still opponent. When he dodged, she swung again and again, feeling angrier and angrier with each missed hit. Kagome screamed without words – she didn’t have any right now - letting him know her fury, and charged again. This time her enemy not only dodged, but attacked back, making Kagome block. The brief clash of sticks gave her an opportunity to grab on enemy's one and crush it in her hand.

His brows creased. Kagome ignored it, happy to deal at least some damage, and moved to strike again, but was suddenly hit in her head with a handle part of her opponent's stick, and right after that – with a powerful wave of youki.

"Don't fall asleep," Kagome heard Sesshomaru say, when her head cleared out a little. His last strike would surely leave a bump. "The training for today isn’t finished yet. You need to improve your stamina."

"Ugh," the priestess moaned, trying to not let her knees buckle. "Is this going to be a regular thing?" she wondered, moving her hand in encompassing gesture.

"Yes," Sesshomaru replied coolly, as if he wasn’t just dooming Kagome to repeat this torture over and over again, "Do katas while this Sesshomaru makes more bokkens; we will continue after that."

***

Feeling as if her head will just explode if she will read about one more dog bone, Kagome put an anatomy scroll to the side and flopped on her backside, falling right onto a soft pile of pillows pre-prepared specifically for this moment. The priestess closed her eyes, finally taking her break and letting her mind to relax. She thought about nothing and everything at once.

At some point Kagome's thoughts turned towards reflecting on her recent past. She wondered about how Haruko was going and if there was some way to reach her. The Ryokami shrine was far away from Sesshomaru's den, but maybe next time she will be in the city, Kagome will be able to send her a letter? It was worth a try at least. Kagome also hoped that no villagers that were under her protection suffered too much because of her leaving. Even though she didn’t really had another choice, if they did, she would feel really guilty. She felt guilty already for only thinking about it now – not that Sesshomaru's lessons gave her a lot of time to think about random things.

She then wondered if people knew about disappearance of Shikon no Tama. Nobody tried to attack her for it since that, but Kagome wasn’t sure if it was because everybody knew that Shikon was gone, or because of Sesshomaru's presence. He was sure scary, even when he wasn’t letting his aura out. Even humans – well, more educated ones, at least – knew that strongest youkai were those who looked like them. And youkai themselves knew exactly why this was so. Kagome remembered Sesshomaru's explanation about differences between brain of a human and a dog youkai. She understood that while youkai certainly weren’t more stupid, mind of dog ones worked in such a way that made thinking in numbers, letters and facts much more complicated.

It was another point of Kagome's admiration towards Sesshomaru. He told her that some youkai, like elementals, had it much more simple, but mind of a dog had natural predisposition towards impressions and associations. It was easier for a dog youkai to remember a source of smell that he once felt a few centuries ago than sum three-digit numbers or understand complex workings of a human body. And yet Sesshomaru did all that and when he was only a teen by youkai standards.

But not only Sesshomaru was smart, strong and awe-inspiringly beautiful, he had a wide range of skills that he picked up during his long life and a great sense of artistic taste (each and every painting in his den was truly breathtaking), he was always taking care of Kagome's needs when she really needed that, like when she passed out after her 'episodes' or when she was kidnapped… He was also a good teacher, especially when the subject was of interest for him. While Kagome didn’t like his methods much, she could really feel her progress both with sword and her blood.

Taking control over direction of her transformation felt like sitting on a sailboat in a middle of a storm. The moment the sails were turned a bit wrong the mast would break, but if you could keep it up, the boat would sail really fast. Kagome could also feel her youki changing gradually, becoming less and less vile and making each next change a little bit more dog-related than the last. Sesshomaru shared with her once that this how it should have went if Kagome just meditated normally, until she could assume and keep a full and true another form.

With that, Kagome's thoughts returned to Sesshomaru again. She felt like she gave him too much credit at once. He was still a cold-hearted jerk, after all. Kagome somehow came to ignore it most of the time. She mused on how he became more tolerant of her as well. He also stopped predicting Kagome's close death, which, knowing him, probably actually meant that he believed in her chances of surviving the whole ordeal, even if the end of it wasn’t even close yet. Now that realization felt _good_. Kagome smiled.

Her smile disappeared when she felt something suddenly jab her under the ribs.

"Priestess, did you fell asleep before or after finishing your task for today?" Sesshomaru's annoyed voice was heard from above her.

"I was not asleep at all!" Kagome blurted, opening her eyes and sitting up. "Really! I was just taking a small break!"

Sesshomaru raised his eyebrow in disbelief and she pouted. Kagome was sure that he knew perfectly well that she wasn’t asleep, with those perfect youkai senses of his, and was just being difficult for his own amusement. That jerk.

"Then it's over now," he said, before throwing a glance at the scroll that Kagome was reading. "This Sesshomaru was impressed by your progress before and doesn’t want for you to thwart your own efforts."

Kagome grinned from unexpected praise. It was one thing to think for herself that she did good and another – to get approval from a teacher like Sesshomaru. "Did you really? Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama!"

He set his cold gaze on her, but that didn’t extinguish Kagome's smile. "Yes… In fact, this Sesshomaru was thinking about rewarding you somehow if you manage to finish learning about bones and blood vessels before the fall, priestess."

"You aren't lying?" Kagome's eyes flew wide. "What reward? Can I… Can I, please, visit Haruko-chan if do?" It was a perfect opportunity in all accounts. She hadn't seen Haruko for two months already – she was _dying_ to know how her apprentice lived.

"You mean that girl from your shrine?" Sesshomaru specified. Kagome nodded hopefully.

"If you that is your wish. Remember when the fall starts. This Sesshomaru doesn’t going to cut on your sword training," he replied, turning his back on her. For a moment she just watched his silver hair sparkle in glow of ghostly lights, before dates run up to her head. Kagome groaned with realization that if she wanted to see Haruko, she wouldn’t be able to afford herself any breaks in the near future.


	14. Girls & Gossip

Kagome felt like she didn’t slept in days, spending all the time that was free after spars with Sesshomaru on merciless (towards herself) cramming of knowledge. But it was all worth it in the end, when she managed to reply correctly to all the test questions Sesshomaru asked and was granted with her reward. Well, when she got her night rest, of course. And Kagome still had a full day and night before the first day of autumn! Gods, how she was proud of herself then.

The journey that would take weeks on foot took only half of the day on Sesshomaru's back. In reward for her efforts he promised Kagome not only just bring her to visit Haruko, but also let her rest from any kind of lessons for three full days before taking her back to his den. And Kagome was going to enjoy this time to its fullest. She actually started to do it right when she climbed on Sesshomaru's back and he took off, taking pleasure in the flight itself and anticipating her meeting with a longtime friend.

When Kagome could finally see the shrine's buildings between the treetops, she cried out joyfully about it. The only answer from Sesshomaru was an annoyed bark, but Kagome took it in stride. She knew that he probably wasn’t all that pleasured by the fact that he basically became her beast of burden, but he was still doing it for her and for that the priestess was deeply grateful.

Sesshomaru didn’t land in sight of the shrine, instead setting down on a clearing not far away and transforming into his human form. This was thoughtful of him, not wishing to scare anyone away with his huge form, and Kagome smiled at Sesshomaru with warmth.

"Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama," she said again, not for the first time. "Will you stay outside as last time or be a guest in the shine?"

Sesshomaru didn't reply with words, instead just turning on his heels and leaving into the woods. Kagome shrugged and went into the direction of the shine grounds. She was sure that whenever he would sleep (and whether or not he would sleep at all), Sesshomaru will still keep an eye on her, and that there, near her home grounds, Kagome will be quite safe even on her own.

***

"Kagome-sama, I can't believe my eyes!" the priestess was greeted with a hug by tear-eyed Haruko as soon as she made a step through the gates. "It feels like years, not months!"

"I am so glad to see you again too, Haruko-chan!" Kagome returned the embrace with a wide smile. "Tell me how you fared there without me!"

"It was hard at times, especially when there were problems with evil spirits, but thanks to your talismans and teachings I had prevailed over everything!" Haruko told with pride, pulling back from Kagome and looking behind her. "And where is Sesshomaru? Didn’t you left together?"

"He is nearby somewhere," Kagome shrugged. "I think that he prefers living in the wild to human homes. Did you knew, that he actually lives in a cave?" she added in a conspiratorial tone, starting to walk towards the kitchen – the best place in the shrine for sitting and talking about all kinds of thing.

"No way! Someone like him, with all those nice clothes and a hair that could belong to a princess? No-o wa-ay!" Haruko replied in disbelief, falling into step. "You have so much to tell me, Kagome-sama!"

"You just didn’t see this cave!" Kagome replied with a grin. "Gods, I don’t even know where to start…"

***

When evening finally completely set in, Kagome felt for the first time in her life, that she was actually tired from talking. It was a completely physical feeling – her tongue and lips were exhausted from moving, and her throat was sore. She felt like she spoke more words today than in the last couple of _years_. And still they weren’t enough. There was just so much to tell! At least she managed to exchange with Haruko information about their most important recent experiences.

Kagome's one day apprentice, and now a full-pledged priestess (at least when it came to helping ill and performing rites), shared tales about villagers that came to ask first for Kagome's help, then for the knowledge of her fate. Haruko helped them herself as well as she could and told a tale that her teacher was hit with a sudden enlightenment and went on a pilgrimage to truly apprehend it. It felt great to know that someone cared to know about Kagome's fate, even if the true version of it would have probably made an uproar. Kagome was also glad to hear that Haruko was doing well with her job, and promised to made more ofudas while she was staying here.

In return, Kagome told about her journey with Sesshomaru and how and what he taught her. She told the story behind Tsunohiyoru (putting aside some details, like her complete lack of clothes at the time of kidnapping) and showed off some moves with it. They laughed together when Kagome shared (in paranoid whispers and under a sound-proof barrier) how Sesshomaru would start to tap his leg if scratched behind the year just like a common dog, even if he was taller than houses. And of course Haruko spared some scathing comments about men's nature when Kagome complained about Sesshomaru's more jerk-ish moments. But all in all, Kagome was happy in her 'pilgrimage', and said so, and then Haruko was happy for her.

The two continued to talk until night and then some, shrine duties completely forgotten. In the end, Kagome left to sleep into her old room that was left untouched, but well-kept, by Haruko. After soft furs and pillows of Sesshomaru's den a thin futon felt hard on her back, and it felt somewhat strange to fall asleep in a place where a roof was so close to her head. A place that was her home for years now felt alien after just couple of months, and when Kagome realized that, she felt sad. Despite the late time, she spent a lot of time tossing and turning before a dreamless sleep finally found her.

***

Next morning the exited dialogue that had time to turn into full-out girl gossiping, continued with doubled power. Two priestesses talked over breakfast and chores, with which Kagome decided to help Haruko despite her protests.

"So-o-o, Kagome-sama," Haruko said, stifling her giggles and sweeping with her broom. "Does Sesshomaru have any disgusting or strange habits? I know all men do! And he is a youkai as well."

Kagome took her time to think. He had many strange habits to be sure, but she couldn't call any of those truly disgusting, even the manner with which he usually ate. So she shrugged.

"I don’t even know, Haruko-chan… He is such a neat person most of the time," she said, moving her own broom along with Haruko's. "Though, I don’t know if it’s counts or not, but Sesshomaru-sama didn’t called me by name even once! I don’t even sure he knows it," she grumbled resentfully.

"What a jerk," Haruko supported. Kagome shrugged again, changing a topic.

"I still learned a lot from him," she said and smiled a little, feeling her cheeks turning a bit hot. "Like, did you know… that dogs actually have a bone right in their male root? Both normal and youkai ones!"

Hearing that, Haruko dropped her broom from laughter. "What?" she asked breathlessly a few bouts of it later. "You mean... That Sesshomaru too?"

"Well, not in his human form," Kagome replied coyly, looking to the side and blushing harder. "But he is a dog youkai after all. I am unsure yet what is it for – when I asked him, Sesshomaru-sama said that I will probably get to study those parts closer to the spring."

"Kagome-sama, just hope that he doesn't mean a _personal_ study, if you get what I mean," Haruko said with a serious face before erupting into giggles again. "From what I know, most men in his position would have gone to _teach_ you about them already," there Haruko stopped her giggles and looked at Kagome with suspicion. "I mean, he didn't, Kagome-sama, right?"

"No, no, Haruko-chan," Kagome waved her friend's concerns away with ease. "He is a dog and a youkai; he isn’t interested in humans at all, so you can sleep easy. And even if he did, I am, well… Still a priestess, I guess," she shrugged. She never really thought before about possibility of losing her virginity. Priestesses were supposed to remain pure, and one cannot be pure with a kid out of wedlock. And if Kagome wed, she would have been stopped being a priestess, which she never had an opportunity to even think about because of the burden of Shikon.

"That’s fair," Haruko picked up her broom and resumed sweeping. "I am myself totally intend to die a virgin. Or maybe, Kagome-sama…" she lowered her voice. "I heard about some women, who swore men off like me, and seek pleasures with other women…"

Kagome inclined her head in a moment of thought. What a strange perspective. She wondered how the mechanics of those worked. Did these women, maybe, use some _instruments_ to imitate male parts during an intercourse? She blushed over the picture in her head.

"Well, it's definitely seems like something that would suit you, Haruko-chan," she said, shaking her head energetically to put the naughty image away. "I hope you will meet someone one of those days."

On that, Haruko smiled and thanked her, and they are continued to sweep and gossip about everything, giggling and blushing like mad at times. It was safe to say, that despite the amount of working hands and how fast the time was flying by, chores were being done very slowly.

***

Her second day in Ryokami shrine Kagome spent making talismans and ofudas for Haruko to use. She didn’t knew when she would be allowed to visit again, so she poured her reiki into every piece of paper she could find, and when she went out of those, she took a piece of firewood and cut it into small tablets to enchant those instead.

Even with her reserve of reiki, spending a full day on nothing but blessing talismans exhausted her reserve greatly. Knowing how stubborn Kagome was when it was about helping other people, Haruko didn’t even tried to stop her, only voicing her disapproval over Kagome's recklessness. But the priestess really wanted to finish doing those and then spend the last day of her visit just relaxing. It turned out to be a mistake.

Kagome truly realized her folly only when she was already finished with her self-imposed task. Daylight hours were almost over, and she made a truly impressive pile of talismans of all kind, leaving herself without almost any reiki in turn. She could easy feel it inside of herself – what before seemed to her as thin sheet of reiki over her youki was actually a mountain-tall glacier in comparison to the almost see-through layer that Kagome could feel now. Which meant that there was nothing to keep her youki in check, which probably meant that even a slightest disturbance could make Kagome go wild now. Like the worry from realizing all this, for example. It was spreading over her in a chain reaction comparable to a forest fire.

"How foolish of you, priestess," a familiar voice was heard from behind her, and Kagome relaxed immediately, the forest fire doused with a downpour. Just as she though, all that time Sesshomaru was somewhere nearby, watching over her while staying unseen. A dark cloud of this metaphor.

"Yes, I guess," Kagome nodded to him, standing up to put ready talismans aside. "Thank you for staying around, Sesshomaru-sama."

"Do not repeat your mistakes," was his answer. Kagome turned her back on him again, going towards the storage, and when she turned to his side few heartbeats later, Sesshomaru was gone. But she still could feel his aura near, without a definite source point, but still announcing that he was, indeed, somewhere nearby, and keeping Kagome in check. She felt that presence around her, softer than any furs that Sesshomaru had, through the whole night.

***

On a third day Kagome's quiet bliss of just sitting on a porch and doing absolutely _nothing_ for a first time in what seemed to be years, just enjoying sunshine on her skin and company of a friend who was just as happy to put her duties aside for a moment, was interrupted unexpectedly by a visitor. He was a fearful-looking young farmer, one of those whose names Kagome could vaguely remember. And of course, he came with a request.

As it seemed, one of the village women started to give birth three weeks earlier than she should have. Kagome could remember her being only on her sixth month when she left with Sesshomaru. The man who was sent to fetch Haruko was a younger brother of the woman in question. He surely wasn’t expecting to see Kagome there as well.

"Did you returned from your sacred pilgrimage, Kagome-sama?" the farmer asked with a hope in his voice while Haruko was gathering medical supplies in hurry. It was no secret that out of the two priestesses, Kagome was more experienced in all matters.

"No," she shook her head. An idea for an explanation came to her head – and who knew, maybe it was true. "But gods made me came to the shrine today, because they knew your sister will need me. After I will help her, I will continue my journey."

"Oh, thank them, then! I am sure going to send them many prayers if my sister is going to give birth smoothly!" the man said, just as Haruko came over with her bag.

"Then let's hurry, before the birth really starts," Kagome said, and so they all went on.

In the end, despite it coming too early, the birth went with notable lack of difficulties. During it all, Kagome chose to stay back, letting Haruko do most of the job and only interfere with advice. If Kagome wasn’t in there today, this would have been first birth that Haruko was assisting with on her own, and the older priestess felt like her apprentice needed this experience. A proud look on Haruko's face when she held a newborn in her arms only confirmed it.

"Now I can be truly sure that you will do great without me," Kagome said after they retired for the night. The birth went on until the late after sunset, and the happy family gifted priestesses with a meal and a room to sleep in.

"Thank you, Kagome-sama. I had so panicked in there… I can barely believe everything went so well!" Haruko exclaimed.

"I barely noticed it," Kagome winked at Haruko with humor. She smiled back, before turning grim.

"So, you said that you were only permitted three days of leave… Are you going to leave this morning?" Haruko asked. Kagome shrugged in response.

"I don’t know, probably. I mean, I am sure Sesshomaru-sama wouldn’t just grab me and make me travel at night for no good reason," she said.

Suddenly, a dark feeling overcame her, like a physical representation of cruelty and malice setting on Kagome's shoulders in a heavy cloud. It took a priestess a moment to look behind a first impression and meet impatience, annoyance and a call in that wave of familiar youki.

"No, wait, actually, I think he did just that," Kagome said a heartbeat later. Haruko, who just opened her mouth to say something, closed it and shook her head sadly. "I am sorry, Haruko-chan, but I must go. I am sure I will visit you again someday."

"I know you will, Kagome-sama," Haruko smiled with a good-bye hug. "Safe travels!"

"They could not be safer, believe it."


	15. The hunger

Since she began to live in Sesshomaru's den Kagome had an opportunity to have much more luxurious and meat-filled diet than ever before. She didn’t know where exactly he got his money from, but she never asked for buying anything unnecessary, and in return he never spared on her expenses, which included food as well. With a big city nearby, Kagome had an opportunity to eat a nice fill of not only grains and vegetables, but also fruits, animal products of all kinds and meat in any amount she wanted to.

"…And so, I just can't understand why I feel so hungry all the time!" she finished explaining to Sesshomaru exasperatedly. It really made no sense. Kagome ate for three people, no less, and even with all the energy she spent for fencing and studying she shouldn’t have felt so famished. And since when it came to sudden changes in her body, Sesshomaru was usually a person with an answer or at least a hypothesis of some sort, this was who she came to with a question.

For a while Sesshomaru just examined Kagome very closely, from up front and behind, like she was a horse for sale. She was even a bit surprised when he didn’t look at her teeth. He did, instead, pinch her cheek and tummy painfully.

"Ouch!" Kagome protested, shying away and rubbing her stomach. Even now it felt so empty that it was sticking to her spine. "What was that for?"

"You became noticeably more thin than this Sesshomaru remembers you being, priestess," he said, stepping back to more appropriate distance. "You need to eat more."

"I can't! I literally don’t have time to!" Kagome exclaimed. "I eat all the time my mouth is free, and I still hungry! It's like there is a bottomless hole in my stomach! I was even thinking I got a stomach worm, but there are no symptoms of it."

"Perhaps then, human food is no longer able to satisfy needs of your body," said Sesshomaru thoughtfully after a moment of thinking. Then he turned away and went towards the exit from the den. "Come, this Sesshomaru and you shall hunt."

"Hunt?" Kagome asked, quickly grabbing her bow and arrows, and hurrying after him. "How is this going to help?"

Sesshomaru didn’t reply. There were many possible reasons for him to ignore one Kagome's questions – and she had a lots of questions – but this time, Kagome decided that it was a case of 'not answering questions when the person asking knows the answer already'. Obviously they were going to hunt for food for Kagome. Now a better question was – what sort of food they were going to hunt for?

***

Contrary to his usual hunts, now Sesshomaru walked through slowly yellowing with the approach of winter forest on his two, not four, legs. Kagome took this time to ask him more questions that waited until this moment for one reason or another. Considering that she had a hundred of questions in every given moment of time, and how much Sesshomaru was usually inclined to answer them, there were always some inquiries left.

"Sesshomaru-sama, can you even hunt in human form? I mean, it's so small… In comparison to your prey, I mean," she said. Sesshomaru threw at her mildly amused look in response.

"It makes the process of consumption longer, but lets this Sesshomaru to savor the taste," he replied with a deep inhale. Without thinking about what she was doing, Kagome repeated the gesture after her teacher, but felt only the light smell of damp fallen leaves.

"And are those youkai you hunt tasty, Sesshomaru-sama?" the priestess asked again. She mostly seen him hunting in his true form, so that meant that he wasn't enjoying eating his fill that much?

"Most of them are not. After one feels a taste of a true power, small flies like those seem vile in comparison," Sesshomaru said with somewhat faraway look. Kagome could swear she seen him licking his lips, but the moment passed so fast that she might have just imagined it.

"Taste of true power? What is that even means, Sesshomaru-sama?" she raised her eyebrows incredulously. When they walked ten more steps and he still didn’t answer, Kagome sighed and changed the topic. "By the way, is this even legal for us to hunt there? Isn't this a daimyo's forest?"

"This Sesshomaru doesn't care for restrictions placed on this place by puny humans like him, and the daimyo knows it," the youkai replied with a slight smirk. "His grandfather decided to give this Sesshomaru a special permission to freely hunt and move in the province, so that nobody would be able to say that this Sesshomaru opposes the daimyo's rule. What a joke."

Kagome giggled a bit disbelievingly – despite glimpses of it there and there, she could hardly believe most of the time that Sesshomaru had a sense of humor. He saved his smiles for carnage and slaughter, not for merriment and laughter.

It was then, that Sesshomaru's gait suddenly changed direction and Kagome realized that he found some sort of prey. He walked faster, still as soundlessly as death, and the priestess hurried after him, afraid that he would start to run at full youkai speed and she will be left far behind, unless she would manage to grab on his pelt in the last moment. She didn’t need to, thankfully – they soon reached a giant youkai boar, which was sniffing for acorns, seemingly unaware of her and Sesshomaru's presence.

Not like other times Kagome witnessed Sesshomaru hunt, this time he didn’t played with his prey – in a blink of an eye he moved near the boar, decapitating it with one strike of his hand. Kagome barely had a time to understand what is going on, and a giant corpse already fell on the ground with a loud thud.

"Eat," Sesshomaru ordered and started to lick fresh blood from his claws. For a moment Kagome just stood in place, enchanted by the act. What would have been gross and disgusting if made by anyone else, in Sesshomaru's execution became strangely enchanting, a gruesome work of art. ' _And those thin, elegant fingers…_ '

Then she blinked, breaking the spell, and moved her gaze to a boar's corpse. It was taller than her even when it was lying on the side, and her ears finally connected to her brain.

"Wait, what? You want me to eat _this_? Raw? I am a human, we don’t eat raw meat and you know it! It's not fish, after all, not even close!" Kagome ranted, throwing up her hands. "No, no-no-no, never! I need to cook it first!"

"Eat it, or die from starvation," Sesshomaru countered and licked his pinky. "And you will not be able to cook it."

"And why is that?" Kagome asked with suspicion. She could cut herself a piece and bring it to the den, and then make a stew out of it, or just roast it… Now _that_ idea made her salivate instead of feel nauseous.

"Even if weak, this beast was a youkai. Normal fires will not be able to char its flesh so easily. It would rot faster than roast," was her helpful answer. Kagome groaned, feeling her stomach groan in unison.

"Why do I need to eat it anyway? Why normal meat doesn’t cut it, Sesshomaru-sama?" she asked in quickly diminishing hope to find some way out of this.

"You spend youki almost every day in spars with this Sesshomaru. It needs to come from somewhere. Weaker youkai may get enough energy from simple plants and meat, but beings like this Sesshomaru will never be satisfied with it," the dog youkai said.

For a moment, Kagome was thinking about his words. It made sense, in a way, though left her with other questions. First, she wondered if Sesshomaru really implied that he thought of her as of a 'being like this Sesshomaru (in power)' or she was assuming too much. Kagome decided to think a second option just in case and asked her next and much less scary question aloud.

"Where reiki comes from, then? I never needed to eat so much before, and I am a priestess, _as you keep repeating all the time, like I don’t have a name, which is Kagome, by the way_ , _Sesshomaru-sama_ ," last part of the sentence came out of Kagome's mouth without her permission and with unexpected amount of poison in it. This bothered her for quite a while, though, so it made sense. Kagome just always preferred to spend limited amount of Sesshomaru's patience on more interesting or useful inquiries than this.

"How this Sesshomaru calls you, _priestess,_ is no choice of yours," Sesshomaru said and looked at Kagome darkly. When she showed him an appropriate amount of completely insincere shame, he answered her actual question. "Priestesses take energy that's necessary for them from emotions of people around them, just like some of youkai, but much less noticeably. Now, eat."

"And how do you know all of this?" was Kagome's last question. It met the wall of Sesshomaru's silence and his pointed look towards a giant carcass of the boar youkai, which made her gulp in apprehension. There was no way she would be able to eat even a piece. Even when she was so hungry. Well, though, when she was _this_ hungry, than ma-aybe a little piece – but then there was no way that she will be sated with it.

Walking on unsure legs, Kagome came closer to the carcass and used a small knife that she always hid under her clothes to cut out a small, phalanx-sized piece out of boar's neck. She moved it closer to her eyes, watching with disgust. The morsel was, at least, looking good for a piece of meat, red and juicy with dark blood. Kagome could easily imagine it being roasted on a stick. It was much harder to imagine eating it like it was.

"Well… Itadakimas!" she said, finally gathering her willpower. After that, Kagome closed her eyes and put the morsel in her mouth, instantly swallowing without chewing. The piece of meat stuck somewhere down her esophagus, making Kagome wish that she had some water to wash it down. Without it, she tried to just swallow a lot.

"This amount would not sate even a rat," Sesshomaru said, coming near Kagome. "Should this Sesshomaru feed you by force?"

Kagome hurriedly shook her head 'no'. "Why do you even care so much?" she grumbled while busying herself with cutting another, a bit smaller piece.

"This Sesshomaru spent much of his time and efforts on keeping you alive. He doesn’t wish for them to become a waste," the youkai answered her and added with a hint of a threat. "And his patience only lasts for so long."

Kagome swallowed again, now from sheer nerves, and gulped down her second piece. It went down a bit smoother, but she still could feel Sesshomaru's heavy gaze on her. Feeling like she didn’t had a choice, Kagome told herself that she could definitely do it and dug in.

She carved raw boar's flesh piece by piece, chewing and swallowing them one by one. At first, the slightly salty and sweet taste felt quite nasty together with its springy texture, but soon Kagome's hunger caught up with her tongue. Then, no matter how it tasted, most important thing was that the meat filled her stomach together with what felt like some inner parts of her soul. It was a fullness that she never felt before and it was completely amazing. Moreover, after she got used to it, the taste of the meat itself wasn’t that bad! Just… unusual.

When Kagome finally felt gorged, she ate about a head-sized amount of meat, carved out in little pieces. She licked her lips from blood, relishing in how sated she felt, and looked at Sesshomaru, noticing that he was eyeing her somewhat strangely.

"That wasn't so bad after all," Kagome said, and glanced at leftover carcass contemplatively. "Should we maybe bring the rests to the den? Or some of it, at least? How long it could lie until it spoils?"

"Leave it to scavengers," Sesshomaru replied. "Hunt for more when you feel hunger again."

It made sense, since Sesshomaru himself only ate couple times a week, but Kagome ate only a small portion of what he normally did. And she didn’t want to waste food. Deciding, that in the worst case, she could just throw it away later, Kagome ignored Sesshomaru when he started to walk away and instead began to quickly cut a head-sized piece with a chunk of hide out of boar's calf.

"Priestess, do you even remember that you are required to follow this Sesshomaru's orders?" a voice with a hint of exasperation was heard from Kagome's back. She grinned under her nose, cutting a last line in boar's flesh.

"Sorry, Sesshomaru-sama! I thought this one was more of a recommendation, you know?" Kagome replied innocently, at the same time covering meat in the piece of skin it was attached to and turning towards the annoyed dog youkai. "Let's go!"

Sesshomaru didn’t replied anything then, but when the two returned to the den, Kagome was immediately tasked with _an_ _order_ to do a great autumn cleaning of it. The next three days were spent cleaning dust, airing furs (which were a pain to move through waterfall one by one, carefully hiding them behind a barrier of reiki from water) and washing clothes instead of lessons – all the while Sesshomaru just stood or sat somewhere nearby and watched with a hint of smugness in his eyes, reprimanding Kagome there and there when she did something not good enough, or not how Sesshomaru himself did in her place. But at least her supernatural hunger didn’t bothered Kagome anymore, now that she knew with what to sate it. Now, if only she knew with what to sate some supernatural _jerks_ …


	16. Visitors of all kinds

Next week, Sesshomaru moved on from simpler instincts and started to teach Kagome language of dog youkai. She was surprised to hear that all his growls and barks she heard before actually meant something more complicated than simple expression of emotions, and that they came to youkai not from their parents, but from their blood.

In some ways, learning dog language was easy – it didn’t had much concepts in it, in comparison to human languages, but on the other hand it had completely different structure than Japanese. Even more, Kagome couldn't bark on it for five minutes without ending with sore throat, end even then Sesshomaru said that what she was trying to say was barely understandable. Humans, after all, just didn’t have the same kind of throats as dogs. To make herself feel better, Kagome reminded herself, that dogs couldn’t speak human as well.

Together with fencing lessons coupled with trials of transformation, studying of endless anatomy details, and whatever chore needed to be done to keep Sesshomaru's den comfortable and their things in good state, Kagome's days were always full. They flew buy so fast that if not for the elaborately painted calendar in Sesshomaru's possession, she wouldn't have ever noticed an approach of winter until the first snow. As it was, Kagome had enough sense in her to prepare warm clothes beforehand, even if it felt at times unnecessary because of the constant burn of blood under her skin. But together with the first day of winter came not only snow and cold that was threatening to freeze the waterfall near the den completely one day, but also a messenger.

He was a tall youkai, donned in armor and clothes of a soldier and bearing a crescent-shaped spear in one hand a scroll case in another. He was mounted on an armored beast that looked like a mix of a dragon and a horse. By luck, Kagome was the first one to notice him, because she when the youkai arrived just went out to gather some water for tea for her and Sesshomaru. The youkai noticed her too.

At first, he frowned and opened his mouth as if to say something degrading, but then sniffed the air and his brows rose in slight confusion. He opened his mouth again, then, but was interrupted.

  
"Who are you?" Kagome asked, brandishing empty teapot like a weapon. Her actual weapons were left in the den, but she didn’t felt much power from this youkai and was reasonably sure that she would be able to defeat him with a teapot if necessary. Even his steed's energy felt somewhat more potent.

"I have brought the message for Sesshomaru-sama," the soldier said and sniffed again. Now if she looked more carefully, Kagome could see a brown tail that was poking out from behind him… The hair of a soldier, short and shiny was also more similar to fur than to actual hair. "Do you serve to him, priestess? Will you bring it to him?"

Kagome wondered why Sesshomaru himself didn’t go out to meet this youkai already. She was sure that he knew that the youkai was nearby, which probably meant that Sesshomaru also knew who he was, and was probably expecting for things to happen like they did.

"Sure," she shrugged, reaching her hand out. "Is there anything else you need?"

"No," curtly replied the youkai, making his dragon-horse to move closer to Kagome so he could give her the scroll case without dismounting. From up close Kagome noticed, that while yellow and with a slit-like pupil, steed's eyes were big and horse-like, just like his muzzle. Without thinking about it, she brought her hand up to scratch the beast's chin and it rumbled contentedly until its rider yanked its reins.

"Don't let strangers just touch you like that! You are a battle steed, what if this woman was an enemy?" the soldier hissed when his dragon-horse roared in dissent. "Ugh, just go!"

With another roar the dragon and its rider flew up and away from Kagome. Shaking her head in slight disbelief, she filler her teapot and went back to the den to give the letter over. She wondered who could have sent it. Sesshomaru wasn’t the most social youkai Kagome knew, and it was hard for her to imagine someone who might want to write to him for any reason. Which was, if you thought of it, kind of sad. With a shock, Kagome realized that before she became his pupil-slash-slave, Sesshomaru was wandering around completely alone.

When, a bit later, Sesshomaru read contents of the message, Kagome was looking at him with unhidden curiosity. She wasn't brazen enough to read over his shoulder, but she definitely wanted to know what the whole fuss was about. Sesshomaru's face didn’t show anything besides a pinch of an annoyance, but that could have been because of Kagome's staring. After several heartbeats her stare turned pleading and she could almost hear Sesshomaru sigh.

"My mother expresses her wishes to see this Sesshomaru at Ten Winters Festival that is going to begin in six weeks in her castle," he retold Kagome contents of the letter. Her eyes flew wide from surprise.

"You have a mother?!" she cried out and immediately stuttered, "I mean, of course you do, Sesshomaru-sama, it's just that you never talked about her and your father is dead, so I thought that she-"

"Cease your rambling, priestess," Sesshomaru nailed Kagome to the ground with his look. She blushed and lowered her head. "In six weeks you will be able to confirm her good health with your own eyes."

This made Kagome look up in shock again, and so fast that she felt like she could break her neck if she will continue like this. "Are you going to take me with you, Sesshomaru-sama?" she asked in disbelief that was gradually changing into panic. "Am I going to meet your _mother_?"

Sesshomaru let out a growl. It was a sound, meaning of which Kagome learned even before she started to dabble in dog - basically, Sesshomaru just said to her to shut up. And so she did, if only for a short while. But it gave Sesshomaru enough time to put the letter away and task Kagome with reading a chapter on dog youkai's heart before evening, so she didn’t had time to ask again that day.

The next day was a completely different thing.

"Can you tell me, at least, what is Ten Winters Festival is?" Kagome pleaded with Sesshomaru, blocking strikes of his wooden sword with her own. It was hard to ask questions while fighting, but she didn’t have better opportunities yet. Sesshomaru rarely spent time near her when she wasn’t learning from him or sleeping, preferring to tinker in his workshop or take long walks over his territory (he himself called it 'patrolling', but Kagome knew better).

"It is an event hosted by this Sesshomaru's mother every tenth winter," he replied, not slowing down in his attacks even a bit. Kagome read the thought behind the action as something like: ' _I will answer some of your questions if you prove to me that you can talk and still fight effectively_ ', and made an effort to concentrate on the fight a bit more. She knew that her time for questions will be over for sure if she will start to transform because of missed hits.

"It's called a festival," Kagome prompted, dodging a swing and launching a counterattack of her own. It was somewhat clumsy one, but she was glad to be able to even make it. "What kind of festivities will be there?"

"It is modeled after human festivals," Sesshomaru said casually, as if the spar was nothing to him. Though, there was no place for 'if' in there. "The whole event will last for about four weeks. There will be common celebrations and a tournament."

Hearing that, Kagome's mind without her control went on to imagine what kind of youkai festivities could be there. This inevitably made her lose concentration on the ongoing spar and miss a nasty hit to the stomach.

"Your left side is left unprotected," Sesshomaru remarked, changing topics on the fly. Kagome had no other choice left but to bear her pain and try not to get hit again to the same place. There was no time for questions left anymore – she barely had any to evade the hits!

***

Question by question, over the course of four weeks of anticipation Kagome learned more about the upcoming festival, though most of information that Sesshomaru went down to share with her was about the tournament attached to it. As she knew now, the festival itself held little to no interest to Sesshomaru in comparison. Because of that, while he bothered to tell her quite enough about the tournament, she only knew the basest basics of what was going to happen on the first part of the event – that it was modeled after celebrations of human nobles and that there will be many youkai present.

Kagome had much more information about the part with fighting. Unlike the festival, it would be open for anyone, and not just people who were invited by the hostess – there were even rare cases of humans participating, though none of them won. Only requirement was some show of power that would prove to judges that the participant wasn't a complete weakling. In the end, there were usually about from thirty to sixty partakers in the tournament. They battled in one on one fights until one of the opponents surrendered or was unable to continue. Each of the people, who managed to get to semi-finals, were allowed to choose one item from the reward pool, gathered by Sesshomaru's mother over the years with the contribution of other youkai. Kagome was also informed that the festivals were held for the last four centuries and that Sesshomaru had won the last eleven tournaments.

All of that information, though, gave her zero idea on whom this next new visitor of Sesshomaru's den may be. This time it was Sesshomaru who first went out to meet her, letting Kagome knew that she was either important or threatening enough to actually have his notice, but besides that she didn’t even had any ideas about her breed thanks to the flawless human guise she had.

"Touran," Sesshomaru greeted colder than the snow he stood on. Kagome, who stood behind him and was watching curiously over the exchange, shivered involuntarily despite her winter clothes. "What you are doing here?"

The female scowled. Like Sesshomaru, she didn’t seem at all affected by freezing temperatures around despite her light clothes. Together with her turquoise long hair, light blue eyes, aristocratically beautiful face and flawless pale skin she looked like some sort of winter spirit, not very much different from Sesshomaru himself. ' _Could she also be a dog youkai? I wish I could just smell and say,_ ' thought Kagome. She could feel chilling and powerful aura of the female, but it wasn’t telling her much about her breed.

"You know why, Sesshomaru," Touran said, pointing finger at him. "I challenge you for my spear that you took from me after our last fight!"

"Do you wish for rematch?" Sesshomaru asked with some interest. "Do you have something to offer to this Sesshomaru as your own ante?"

Touran smirked at that and threw a glance at Kagome for the first time since the priestess appeared outside. "No, I know that you will win in a blood challenge," she acknowledged, "So what about challenge of leadership? And if you win, I will tell you where you will be able to get a sword worthy of yourself before the Winter Tournament."

Before Kagome could open her mouth and say something like "Wait, what?", Sesshomaru already agreed, leaving her confused and suspicious. She didn’t know what the challenge of leadership was about, but she was suspecting that it was, for some reason, involved her – and she didn’t liked it one bit.

"Then I will go and fetch my siblings," Touran said and vanished almost faster than the eye can see. With that, Kagome turned to Sesshomaru with expectant look.

"So what did you sign me in?" she asked, crossing her hands on her chest.

"The challenge of leadership is a battle between chosen servants of opposing sides. You shall fight against Touran's champion," Sesshomaru said without showing in any way that he was intimidated. "You will be in advantage, because while Touran doesn’t know your abilities, this Sesshomaru knows well what her strongest soldiers can do."

"Just great!" Kagome exclaimed accepting her fate with a healthy dose of anger. Being unable to just shout off Sesshomaru's ear, she started to fume silently.

"There are three people from which Touran might choose, all of them – wildcats like her, and equal in power. Shuran is notable for his physical strength and ability to control lightning. Karan is nimble and can summon flames. Shunran is able to conjure illusions and attack with wind. All of them share a weakness over the element that is stronger than the one they wield," Sesshomaru coached. Kagome had minuscule amount of gratitude to him for that. It was all about winning a contest anyway for this jerk.

Kagome remembered the diagram from the old book on the structure of the universe. Earth, water, fire, wind and void together created everything that existed in it. That didn’t said her anything about what _she_ could do against any of those youkai besides her basics. That also didn’t explain which element was strongest against which, though Kagome could guess from the names of the trio. They surely had a common theme between them and Touran.

"But I can't fight with any element besides my reiki anyway!" Kagome complained. "What good this weakness is going to get me anyway?"

"It is most prudent to know strong and weak sides of your opponent whether you think yourself able to exploit them or not. Now, get your sword," Sesshomaru replied to that. Instantly remembering that she, indeed, left her sword at the den, Kagome run away behind the still moving waterfall to fetch it.

When Kagome returned with her weapon, Touran was there already. Behind her the priestess could see a bulky and tall man in green haori, fiery red-haired and lean young woman and a green-eyed girl with flowers in her hair. Kagome guessed that redhead was probably Shuran, since her hair was similar in color to autumn leaves, and the man was Karan, since he was clad in dark green, like summer grass. That left the girl to be Shunran.

"I, Touran of the wildcats, call you, Sesshomaru of the dogs, to the challenge of leadership for the Rime Spear that you hold in your possession!" Touran declared proudly, stepping forward.

"This Sesshomaru accepts the challenge and chooses Kagome to represent him," he said in similar tone and looked at the priestess. "Step forth."

' _So he_ does _remember my name?_ ' Kagome thought in shock, making two steps towards the Touran. Fresh snow crunched under her boots and she was glad that snowfall ended this morning. It would not be easy to fight in snow as it was. It was hard to say where shore ended and partially frozen lake started, and Kagome didn’t want to step on thin ice.

"I choose Shunran to represent me," Touran waved her hand at the youngest-looking youkai with her and she stepped forward. "And if I lose this challenge, I will tell Sesshomaru where to find a great sword."

Something – maybe the wording of a challenge or smug smiles of youkai involved – told Kagome that even if she wins the battle now, there was low chance of Sesshomaru being really happy with whatever Touran was going to tell him. She threw a glance at her teacher, trying to see if he himself understood it, but his face wasn’t showing anything.

Touran stomped her leg on the snow, and a long wall of icicles protruded from the ground, circling Kagome and Shunran on the improvised arena. The pieces of ice weren’t standing up higher than Kagome's waist, but looked quite sharp.

"The first one to yield, leave the circle or became unable to fight loses," declared the woman. Sesshomaru agreed with a curt nod. "Then the battle begins… now!"

Kagome tensed with her hand on the handle of sheathed Tsunohiyoru, watching her future opponent. The girl, who was standing ten steps apart from her on the other side of the ice circle, wasn’t bearing any obvious weapons with her besides claws and fangs. She also didn’t seem to be in hurry to attack first. ' _At least this arena is too small for a youkai in his true form,_ ' Kagome though, coiling her aura in preparation for a quick strike. ' _Though I would have felt better if this was an archery contest._ '

"Fu-fu-fu, do you think your holy power and this sword on your hip will be enough against me?" Shunran said with an arrogant smile and waved her long sleeves. Kagome could feel waves of youki weaving into some sort of spell.

"Should be!" replied Kagome, unsheathing Tsunohiyoru and pointing it at Shunran in the same movement. The furious pink of reiki channeled into it shined bright, moving from the blade towards Shunran in a wide beam that the youkai had zero chance to dodge. This was what Kagome was trained for as a priestess and as a swordsman. The fruit of her efforts – one of them, anyway. This was one of the things she wished she could use on Sesshomaru in their spars...

Shunran screamed out in pain, when the attack hit her, but Kagome could feel that the girl was alive. This was great – she didn’t want to kill her, just to knock out or throw out of the arena. When clouds of snow that were lifted up from the attack settled down again, Kagome could see Shunran on her knees outside of the partially broken ice circle. She was looking around in confusion before she groaned and pressed her hand to her stomach.

"You lost, Touran," Sesshomaru said to a scowling blue-haired woman, while Karan and Shuran helped Shunran up and started to ask about how she was feeling.

"That reiki… How a priestess of such power became a servant of someone like you, Sesshomaru?" Touran asked in angry disbelief.

"This is irrelevant. Your information, Touran," Sesshomaru said with impatience in his tone. Kagome decided to ignore their exchange for now and check on the Shunran.

"Do you need first aid?" she asked, coming closer to the youkai trio. They looked at her with suspicion, but eventually redhead that Kagome identified as Shuran, replied:

"She will be fine. She just needs rest, right?" she looked at Shunran questioningly.

"Yes, you didn’t blast me that hard, Kagome-san," the girl nodded, still keeping her sleeves around her body. Kagome could see that her clothes were burned behind them. She learned from Sesshomaru, that youkai clothes were usually made from youkai materials that were able to transform together with their owners and even regenerate; but contrary to human-made materials, they also were destroyed by holy attacks.

"Let me lend you some clothes, then," Kagome offered. Shunran nodded with some trepidation, and then it was set.

One grudgingly given permission from Sesshomaru later, Kagome was helping Shunran change into one of her spare yukatas, also using the opportunity to check on the girl's wounds. Despite them wanting to, Shuran and Karan weren't given permission to go inside the den, so the two girls had some privacy, even if Shunran seemed to be very nervous to be in such environment.

When Shunran took off her kimono to get in borrowed yukata, Kagome could easily see that not only it was burned and torn, it was also splattered with blood.

"Shunran-chan, you _are_ wounded," Kagome noticed with worry, quickly moving to grab her medical kit. It was a useful thing to have on hand when training. "Let me see, please."

"It's just some scratches! They will heal tomorrow!" Shunran protested. Kagome didn’t want to hear any of that, though. There was something in youkai girl that reminded her of Haruko; and besides that, she felt a bit guilty for dealing those wounds in the first place. The reason for it seemed to be quite unimportant in her eyes.

"Not the wounds from reiki! And burns are easily infected," Kagome countered, moving to try and just overpower youkai if she refuses to see reason. Thankfully, after this Shunran pouted, but let Kagome do whatever she wanted.

Pulling Shunran's yukata away, Kagome could see not only burns and bruises from her attack, but also long scratches left by sharp icicles on the youkai's back. All of those needed to be cleaned out and bandaged, and when Kagome was done with that, most of Shunran's torso was covered in cloth.

"Thank you," she said sadly. "I can't believe I had not only lost so easily, but also got aid from the person who defeated me. I am so worthless! I am just no help for Touran-sama at all!"

"Don't blame yourself, Shunran-chan," Kagome shook her head and smiled encouragingly. "This is just one loss. There sure will be wins in the future!"

"And now you are even trying to lift my spirits!" Shunran pouted harder with a look of wounded pride in her eyes. "Tell me, at least, that I can repay you for clothes somehow!"

"Well," Kagome inclined her head in though. "Can you tell me what is this feud between Touran and Sesshomaru-sama about?"

"This is no secret," Shunran shrugged. "About five decades ago we and Touran-sama tried to make Sesshomaru-sama to give up this territory and challenged him for it. But he won and took her Rime Spear as a reward. Since then we found another piece of land for ourselves, but Touran still wants her weapon back."

"Why did she want this territory in the first place? I mean, surely there are less protected places, aren’t there?" Kagome asked.

"But this one is really nice!" Shunran explained complainingly. "The game is always plentiful in this forest, and this cave," she waved around in encompassing gesture. "Is big and protected by waterfall from smell and sight. There are also big human city not too near and not too close enough, and none of the neighbors are of problematic sort. All places like this one are already owned by powerful beings."

Kagome nodded in understanding. Well, Touran risked and lost her weapon, and, knowing Sesshomaru, she wasn’t having it back anytime soon, if ever.

"Thank you for explaining," the priestess said with a slight smile. "Let's go now, I think Touran must be waiting for you already."

When Shunran and Kagome got outside, Touran and Sesshomaru, indeed, already finished talking and the atmosphere around the lake was quite tense. Mostly because of the dark look on Sesshomaru's face.

"Shunran, we are leaving now," Touran commanded as soon as the girl stepped outside. "Goodbye, Sesshomaru!"

"Goodbye, Kagome-san!" Shunran added with a wave, running after her mistress. "See you again on the Winter Festival!"

Sesshomaru just scowled darker. Kagome stepped near him and looked up to his face questioningly.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked, as if she wasn’t heavily suspecting what exactly was wrong.

"Not yet," Sesshomaru seemingly relaxed a bit. "This Sesshomaru will leave for two days. You may spend them as you wish. This is your reward."

"Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama!" Kagome almost jumped from excitement. Two whole free days! Completely alone! No orders, no studying, and no chores besides most necessary ones – it was going to be great.

***

Two days or blessed boredom Kagome was shocked to see Sesshomaru entering the den with the one of the strangest weapons she had ever seen in her life.

"Hello," she said, stupefied. "Is this the sword that Touran talked about? "

Sesshomaru nodded, moving past her towards his weaponry. The giant weapon, too wide for a sword, with a handle too long, and just generally too big for a human to wield, was lying on his shoulder and threatening to scrap on corridors' roofs. She could feel evil energies inside of the sword, hidden for now, like a guard dog in its doghouse.

"This isn’t a sword, Sesshomaru-sama! This is a monstrosity!" Kagome cried out, following behind him. "Is it, at least, any good? Where did you get it? I guess Touran didn’t lied about a _great_ sword… This one is just gigantic!"

"This sword is named Banryu. It belonged to a dead mercenary who washed it in blood of a thousand humans and thousand youkai," Sesshomaru explained. "This Sesshomaru took it from the daimyo that captured and executed him several years ago."

"I feel the malice inside of it," Kagome noted in agreement. "And I guess you aren’t going to use it?"

"No," the youkai stated, walking inside of his weaponry. Kagome moved closer, helping him to clean some space to fit the monstrosity of the new sword. ' _And another weapon is going to be gathering dust in Sesshomaru's collection. I think that this is for the best. Fewer weapons, especially ones so evil, mean less bloodshed._ '


	17. Skipping to interesting parts

The view before Kagome was completely awe-inspiring, and the closer Sesshomaru's giant form was to that beautiful scenery before her, the more of fascinating details Kagome could see. Statues, stairs, soldiers, servants – so many 's'-words! And also gardens, and architecture, and all kinds of youkai – and all of that was floating on a giant cloud so high in the sky that Kagome could barely breathe.

When they flew closer, Kagome could feel a barrier that was surrounding the floating island. Sesshomaru and she passed it through effortlessly, and the priestess immediately felt her labored breath easing out as the air around became thicker and warmer, as if it was summer here. She looked below them, onto the terraces, squares and buildings looming below, and could see youkai looking up at her and Sesshomaru, some with wonderment and admiration, some with little to no emotion, and some with fear.

Finally, Sesshomaru landed on a top-most part of a somewhat pyramidal island. The place they landed at was surrounded by more stairs and terraces, and hosted the richest-looking mansion of them all, and also the highest number of guards. When Kagome climbed down from his back and her teacher transformed back into his human form, she could see that they have been expected already.

The woman, white-haired and fair-skinned, was sitting upon an elaborately made stone bench directly opposite the wide set of stairs that was leading to the square. She was so similar to Sesshomaru in every part of her looks, that if he himself didn’t stood just next to her, Kagome could have thought that some witchery transformed him into a woman when she didn’t looked. The woman wore clothes of similar colors and style, had almost the same marks of heritage on her cheeks and forehead, and even her face was looking similar not just in its abstract beauty, but in some features of it as well. Kagome could instantly notice how similar to Sesshomaru's forms of her slanted eyes and sharp chin were. Thankfully, she had time to build up her immunity for perfect youkai's looks, so she wasn’t _noticeably_ dumbfounded.

"Sesshomaru," the woman greeted with a cold smile. Her voice was high-pitched and gentle, but didn’t seem to hold any real warmth. "How nice to see you finally come to greet your mother. And here she thought that you decided to skip this year's festival altogether. But not only you came; you brought another guest with you – how wonderful! And this Tsume had believed that you despised humans..."

' _So this is his mother… They look more similar to siblings! Although, she really doesn't share Sesshomaru's brevity_ ,' Kagome thought, looking from one to another as if trying to spot five differences.

"She is not entirely human, mother, and you know it," Sesshomaru replied with his customary coldness. Kagome was starting to think that he and his mother hated each other, with that passive-aggressive sort of animosity.

"My name is Kagome, by the way," the priestess chimed in with a low bow as soon as she could. She was sure that if she wasn’t going to introduce herself, no matter how rude it was, nobody was. "Nice you meet you, Tsume-sama."

Sesshomaru glowered, but his mother just giggled into her long sleeve.

"Oh, girl, you are so amusing already! Later you must tell me everything about what you are and how you met my son. And don’t be so angry with your mother, Sesshomaru – we both know I would've needed to pull it out of you together with your tongue. Do you wish for your mother to overexert herself and fall ill?" Tsume put her hand to her forehead in a mock sadness.

"You two may talk, if you wish," Sesshomaru said and turned to Kagome. "Any unregulated fights between guests are prohibited in this place, priestess. You may roam free until this Sesshomaru needs you again."

"And he is leaving already," Tsume said with an over exaggerated sigh as Sesshomaru turned towards the stairs down. "Just as usual. Now he is going to avoid everyone until the tournament, even his dearest mother!"

Kagome, who was left alone with an unfamiliar female copy of Sesshomaru, suddenly felt very out of place. And her hands now were so interesting to look at…

"Girl," since there were no other girls in the vicinity, Kagome raised her head to look at Tsume expectantly. "Let's go and entertain this one's guests for a while. Majority has already arrived. And when we are walking there, you are going to tell this Tsume all about yourself!" the youkai woman said with excitement. Those were the words of Kagome's doom.

The rest of the day was a whirlwind of new faces and countless words exchanged. Tsume, in sharp contrast with her son, gladly spoke with each and every of the grand amount of people she invited to the festival and those whom they, in turn, brought with them. The time in-between she used to explain Kagome ins and outs of the event and ask her questions about herself in return. The whole day until sunset and long after that, Tsume continued to take the priestess with her everywhere she went, like either some sort of pet or a special guest. With Tsume the difference was really hard to tell – she seemed to see the whole festival like some sort of an exciting game, made by herself, for herself, with her guests as play pieces, and wasn’t even hiding it very hard.

When eventually Kagome was finally brought to a guest room for the night by a quiet servant and left alone, she felt exhausted and full of excitement to the brim. The day was one of the most interesting in her life, and as Tsume said, the festival didn’t even truly begin yet! Tomorrow, though, there were going to be feasts and performances of all kind, and Kagome hoped to have an opportunity to talk more with Shunran, who was invited to the festival together with other three wildcats.

The room was dark without any lamps lit, but Kagome didn’t bothered with searching for them, instead just dressing down to the thin white yukata that was serving as her underwear now that she wasn’t wearing pants. It was only when she found a rolled out futon in the dark and fell on it that Kagome noticed that it was looking so strangely, because someone was already lying on it! She shrieked on reflex and scrambled away from a vague shape of a rousing person that she could see in the dark.

"Was it necessary for you to attack my eardrums, priestess?" a familiar voice said with annoyance. Kagome breathed easier.

"Why you are sleeping in my room, Sesshomaru-sama?" she asked suspiciously. She hadn’t seen even a glimpse of him the whole day, and was wondering now if he spent all that time in this room.

"This is not _your_ room," he replied, sitting up. "Since this Sesshomaru did not announced bringing another guest with him, you were put to sleep in his room as well."

"And why I am hearing about this for the first time?" Kagome cried out. It wasn’t the problem for her to sleep in the vicinity of Sesshomaru – hey, she was doing it since he became her teacher! – but lying down to sleep to find another person in what should have been _her_ bed was quite unpleasant. She fumed.

" _Be quiet and sleep_ ," Sesshomaru rumbled in dog-speak. Low notes of his growling reverberated in Kagome's chest, making her relax as the youkai spread his long pelt near him for her use.

Not even trying to hurt her throat with an answer, Kagome yawned and lied down on it. As usual, the pelt was softer than any futon, and long enough to create a fine bed for both her and Sesshomaru. In a few moments she was already asleep.

***

When Kagome woke up, she was lying alone in the middle of the futon with no hint of Sesshomaru's ever being present in the room. Guessing that he was going to continue to be antisocial, Kagome prepared herself in the adjacent bathroom and went out to face the day.

Just as yesterday, the place was hectic and giant, and now Kagome had no helpful guides to show her around. Not wishing to disturb already busy servants with her questions, the priestess used her a bit blurred memories of yesterday to find her way out of the building.

It was placed upon one of the highest terraces, and when she ventured outside of it, Kagome could easily see the crowds below. Many of the squares that yesterday were more or less empty now hosted long tables filled with food and drinks, and she spotted a big stage, where few dancers performed for gathered guests. Everything seemed to be filled with joyful people and noise, and if not yesterday, Kagome would have been overwhelmed. This was the most lavish festival she'd seen in her life, and the guests were of the strangest sort – all of them youkai. Yesterday Kagome felt like a living attachment to Tsume, but now she was being a white raven – a human among beasts in human skins. And many of those skins weren’t even that good. Some guests brought their children with them, who did not yet learned how to transform into humanoids, and some looked grotesque despite all their efforts.

Shaking her head and filling her chest to the brim with air and determination, Kagome went toward the nearest table in search for Shunran. She tried to feel for her aura, but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Not that looking for her with eyes was much easier. Still, even if Kagome didn’t noticed the girl anywhere near the crowd of youkai she passed by, she reached the table that was full of food, which was a good enough goal on its own.

It must be noticed, that since Kagome added some raw meat in her diet, she needed to eat much less than before, but even so, her still human body craved normal human food for it as well. She wasn’t left hungry yesterday, thanks to servants ready to bring her something to chew on, but now Kagome was curious for the youkai cuisine. Especially with her knowledge on eating habits of _some_ specific youkai… her hand touched the sword on her hip without thought.

As it was, dishes on the table were of the great variety. To her surprise, Kagome noticed human dishes of all kinds there, lying together with what looked like different meats of varying stages of raw. Some of those, she could tell because of the youki that Kagome could feel inside, belonged to youkai, but some weren’t. Just in case, Kagome didn’t touch this unidentified meat, instead sticking to what she knew.

After stuffing her stomach – she didn’t meant to at first, but all the food was just so tasty! – Kagome left again to continue her search or to enjoy the festivities. Many of the guests that Kagome already met yesterday greeted her in passing, while those who seen her first time preferred to throw curious glances. Strangely, nobody seemed to mind her being human – maybe it was the merry atmosphere that was making youkai around so positive about everything.

Not seeing Shunran or any of her cat-band anywhere around, Kagome took her time to explore everything. She grabbed an owl festival mask from a stall where a servant was giving them over to guests, watched a leash of fox youkai to perform a life-like play with illusions that left Kagome so immersed, that at some point she almost jumped at the stage to protect a main hero of the story from the villain, and took a stroll in gardens to rest a little and enjoy the beautiful scenery that could be seen from so far above the ground.

It was there that Kagome noticed a little girl that was crying quietly in an empty gazebo. Of course, the priestess instantly came over to rectify the situation. Children shouldn’t be crying alone, especially at the festivals.

"Girl, what's happened? Why are you crying?" Kagome asked in a gentle voice as she came over. The girl stopped hiccupping for a moment to look up at her, but still continued to hug her knees pitifully. She couldn’t have looked older than four, but as far as Kagome knew, at this physical age most youkai still had only their true form, with trickster kinds, like foxes, being only exceptions. Her blue hair and violet eyes were too colorful for a human, though, and her aura was full of youki. A half-youkai?

"I… I don’t know where my dad and mom are…" the girl said so quietly that Kagome needed to lean closer to hear, which in turn made the girl to hide her face in her knees again, which made her voice even quieter.

"They came here with you?" when the girl replied with a barely noticeable nod, Kagome continued in a calming voice, "Don't worry, I am going to help you to find them. My name is Kagome. Now, what is your name?"

"Sh-shiori," the child whispered, looking up again. Kagome smiled encouragingly and reached out her hand.

"Shiori, let's go and look around for your mom and dad. Can you describe them?"

"My dad… he is tall and has pretty blue hair, like me," Shiori said a bit louder, taking Kagome's hand with noticeable hesitancy. The priestess waited patiently for the girl to do so and stand up. "And my mom looks like you."

' _So she is probably a human,_ ' Kagome noted, ' _It should be easier to find a human there than a youkai._ '

"Alright, Shiori-chan, now can you lead me to where you saw them last time?" she asked, and then followed after a quiet girl out of the gazebo. Shiori, though, didn’t lead the way for a long time before stopping with a helpless expression on her face.

"I don’t know where to go… I forgot…" she said and started to tear up again.

"Sh-h, calm down, Shiori-chan, I am sure that they are also searching for you around. Let's not walk too far and wait for them to find you?" Kagome hurried to calm the girl down. When she didn’t start to cry again and instead just nodded, Kagome sighed with relief.

They found a bench to sit on not too far away and settled to wait, with Kagome distracting Shiori from her distress by playing easy games with her and telling her stories. Thankfully, she didn’t need to divert child's attention for too long before she perked up with a bright smile.

"My dad is calling me!" Shiori said. Kagome looked around in confusion – she didn’t hear anything. The girl didn’t let that distract her, though, and jumped from her seat to start running in what seemed to be a random direction for the priestess. Of course, she followed straight after the child.

They run down the garden path and ended up on a crossroads, where stood a couple that couldn’t be anyone else but Shiori's parents: a tall, noble-looking youkai with light blue hair and an ordinary-looking human woman. The youkai in question was standing with his mouth open, as if in shout, but Kagome couldn't hear any sounds leaving his lips. That is, until he noticed Shiori running to him.

"My girl!" he exclaimed, kneeling down and spreading his hands to embrace her. "Oh, we were so worried!"

"Shiori-chan, we told you not to go away on your own," the woman next to him chided with a severe tone of a worried mother.

"I am sorry," Shiori whispered into her father's clothes. He, in turn, stood up, lifting the girl in his hands effortlessly, and looked at Kagome.

"Lady, may I guess that you helped Shiori to find us?" the youkai asked friendly, while gently patting Shiori's back.

"I really did nothing," Kagome waved away with an awkward smile. "Just watched over her for a while until you… Called her?"

The youkai smiled and seemed to understand the source of the priestess's confusion.

"My name is Tsukuyomaru, and this is my wife, Shizu," with his hands busy with his daughter, the youkai could only nod at his wife, who bowed in greeting. Kagome politely bowed back. "I am a bat youkai, and our kind can make out sounds that other bats could hear from very far away, but most of other beings can't perceive at all," Tsukuyomaru explained with a smile.

The priestess introduced herself in turn, when Shiori suddenly lifter her head up to say her own words. "She told me stories," the girl said, before hiding again on her father's chest. Kagome smiled tenderly over the little girl's innate cuteness.

"Thank you for keeping an eye on our daughter," Shizu said gratefully in her turn. "I don’t think that many of other guests would have been as helpful."

"Yes," Tsukuyomaru nodded thoughtfully, "I am surprised to see another human there, and especially a priestess. Tsume-sama is known for her general disinterest for human race beside the luxuries they come up with. Were you brought with one of the guests?"

While Kagome was wearing not her priestess garb, but a simple silk yukata - appropriate for festivals and celebrations, but not too constricting - and hiding most of her aura, she wasn’t surprised that Tsukuyomaru noticed sparks of reiki in it. Most of youkai she met there also did.

"I was brought by Sesshomaru-sama," she said, expecting Tsukuyomaru to at least hear about the son of his hostess. When his brows lifted in surprise, Kagome was sure that he did. "I am his servant, sort of. It’s a long story. But he is hiding somewhere, so I am alone for now."

"This is most unbelievable," Tsukuyomaru shook his head in shock. His wife looked at him with confusion, than at Kagome.  
  


"Are you a priestess, Kagome-san? How can you serve a youkai, then? Sesshomaru is a youkai, right?" she looked questioningly at her husband.

"Well, as I said, it's a long story. But in short, I have promised to serve him in exchange for his help with one very serious problem of mine," Kagome explained. "I don’t know why he brought me here, though."

"I see," Tsukuyomaru said. Both he and Shizu still looked full of bewilderment. Shiori was looking up from her father's hands curiously, but was not chiming in. "If you don’t have any plans for the festival, what about staying with us for a time?"

"I was hoping to find my friend Shunran out there, but I spend the whole morning on it already with no results," Kagome replied with a wide smile on her face. She was starving for some company, and those two seemed to be good guys. She was also very curious to learn about how they came to be together. The only youkai-human couple she knew before were Inuyasha's parents… And this story ended badly and begun she didn’t even know how. "So sure, let's go!"


	18. Of youkai's love

Tsukuyomaru turned out to be a great guide over the festival and the flying island. As he told Kagome, he was invited to the celebrations couple of times before, but his wife was there for the first time, and she and the priestess shared the novelty of the experiences. And it was so much easier for Kagome to connect with Shizu, who shared many of normal human problems that Kagome either experienced before or heard of from the villagers she helped, than to youkai. She only lived with one for less than five moons – this time wasn’t enough to truly understand diverse culture of those beings.

Kagome still had fun chatting with other members of small family. Shiori may have been a shy child, but soon the festive atmosphere made her come out of her shell a bit, and she took a liking for Kagome already. And Tsukuyomaru was a positive and kind person, and always found humor in jokes of the females around him. He and Shizu also shared with Kagome a story about how they met, flooring her with awe (and some small amount of envy) over a romantic tale.

It happened one clear moonlit night. Tsukuyomaru was flying over seashore near the den of his tribe, when he noticed a beautiful human maiden (this is where Shizu blushed and smiled over her husband's words) gathering pieces of amber in sand. Curious as to why she would do such thing at night, he glided down to her, and asked her about that.

The woman was shocked by an appearance of a handsome stranger (and there was Tsukuyomaru's turn to smirk devilishly), but responded that she was a poor daughter of a fisherman, but wanted to make her older sister a surprise gift of an amber necklace for her upcoming wedding. Then, to her surprise, the stranger decided to help her with gathering of stones.

The necklace wasn’t finished in one night, and so Tsukuyomaru appeared on the next one, and the next. This was, of course, all just a reason to spend more time with a charming woman, who as he learned, was named Shizu. He told her about himself as well, admitting that he was a youkai and one of the bats who attacked her village, but also explained how he was always against such attacks and only ever drank the blood of animals. To his surprise, instead of responding to his revelations with fear and screams, Shizu didn’t look at Tsukuyomaru differently.

Even when necklace was done, they continued to meet in secret for a while, until eventually enamored Tsukuyomaru declared that he wanted to spend rest of his live with her as his mate. At that point he explained for Kagome, who wasn’t privy to youkai breeding habits that much, that contrary to humans, youkai never had any traditions of marriage or anything remotely similar. Nothing stopped two youkai in love from living together as human husband and wife would, just as nothing stopped a youkai from taking multiple lovers if he wanted. Still, since Shizu was a human, he proposed to marry her by human tradition, and she happily agreed.

This was also when Tsukuyomaru told about his great hopes for this tournament. One of the possible prizes, as he said, was a small piece of ningyo flesh, which was told to grant immortality to any human who will eat it. If not for the rarity of ningyo youkai, Tsukuyomaru would have fished for one himself, but trying to win a piece in tournament seemed to be easier and faster, despite the bat's doubts over his strength.

"But, Tsukuyomaru-san, I can feel how powerful your aura is. Surely you are strong enough to get at least to semi-finals?" Kagome asked the youkai then. It really made little sense to her – strength of Tsukuyomaru's aura was comparable to Sesshomaru's.

"In future I will be, but I am only two and a half hundred years old. I didn’t yet grow into all of my power and can't use most of it," Tsukuyomaru replied ruefully. "Tsume-sama is known for her ability to arrange tournament matches in such a way that unfair fights are rare, but I can still easily lose any one of them," with those words he looked at his wife sadly.

"I will still not be old in another ten years," Shizu replied with a smile and a nudge to her husband's shoulder. "Don't bury me ahead of time."

"Dad won't lose," Shiori supplied from where she was walking near her mom. This made Tsukuyomaru smile as well.

"Well, if you believe in him, sweetie, than he sure won't!" he replied with a chuckle and a pat on Shiori's head.

***

Over watching performances, trying out food and just strolling, time quickly flew by. It was sun had set already, and Kagome and her company were reasonably tired, but not enough to retire for their rooms yet – especially not when the fireworks started. The show of explosions in the sky was enchanting and romantic, and when Kagome saw how Shizu leaned on Tsukuyomaru's shoulder with Shiori nestled between them, she decided to give the family privacy for a short while.

Making sure to still keep them in sight – it was so easy to get lost on this island – Kagome walked some distance away from the garden bench where they sat at, and found another nice spot for fireworks-watching. She was a bit disappointed to see this bench to be already occupied too, but that emotion quickly changed to elation when Kagome realized who exactly was sitting there, and then to embarrassment, when she saw what they were doing.

' _So those rumors that Haruko-chan heard were right,_ ' Kagome thought numbly, feeling how her blood rushes to her face. ' _Such women exist. Gods, why am I still looking at them?!_ '

Finding herself still staring at two passionately kissing girls, Kagome quickly turned away from them. This movement, though, was probably the thing that alerted them to her presence.

"Kagome-san!" Shunran's happy voice was heard from behind the priestess. "I thought we will never meet each other again!"

"Uh, hello, Shunran-chan, Shuran-san," Kagome turned back, red as tomato. Two wildcats still sat very close to each other on that bench and were holding hands with no shame to be seen on their faces.

"I am Karan, actually," the red-haired woman said, making Kagome blush even deeper. So she was thinking Karan and Shuran's names wrong for how many days straight now?

"I am sorry! We were never actually introduced, and I was thinking that you were Shuran because of your hair color – it's just like tree leaves in fall!" Kagome rambled in apologizing tone.

"Ah, don't get so anxious!" Karan waved off dismissingly. "So, Tsume-sama decided to let you off today?"

Kagome nodded, calming down a little and remembering her previous day. She met Touran and her cohorts then together with Tsume who came up to greet and tease them, but Kagome didn’t had an opportunity to chat with Shunran or any of other cats before she was dragged away again.

"Yes, I didn’t see her the whole day," the priestess replied with a smile that started to bloom anew on her face. "I was looking for you, Shunran-chan, but this place is huge! And then, I admit, I just got distracted by all the festivities."

"There is a lot of things too look at, yes," Shunran beamed happily. "Have you seen the dancing performances? I and Karan heard that Tsume-sama brought the kabuki actors from the Kyoto, where they danced for the human Emperor himself!"

"Yea, she knows how to celebrate to the fullest," Karan agreed. "And those humans moved so smoothly, I could've thought that they were youkai."

Kagome delved into her memory for a moment. Yes, she watched a kabuki performance together with Tsukuyomaru and his family, but she honestly thought the actors to be youkai with how fluid their moves were. But she didn’t felt for their aura, and they wore heavy clothes and masks, so this was her only clue.

"I honestly believed them to be," the priestess shook her head. "They were amazing. The only person besides them whom I've seen to move with such grace was Sesshomaru-sama."

It was then that Kagome noticed three other people moving next to her and the wildcats couple (which was still a bit of a shock – were youkai really so free in that regard?). They were, of course, Tsukuyomaru, who was holding Shizu's palm in one hand and nodding off Shiori in another.

"Kagome-san, are those your friends?" the bat youkai asked quietly, coming closer. "Will you introduce us?"

"Of course," now Kagome was also speaking in lowered voice. "This is Shunran-chan and Karan-san, and those are Tsukuyomaru-san, Shizu-san and Shiori-chan," she pointed out everyone. Shizu looked at the couple's joined hands with the same astonishment that Kagome felt earlier, and the wildcats, in turn, were throwing curious glances at her and Shiori.

"Nice to meet you," the awkwardness was broken by Shunran, who nodded her head in greeting. "How do you find the festival?"

With that, the companies of four and two became a company of six. Romantic mood was broken in favor of happy chatter. Karan seemed to be a bit apprehensive of Shizu at first, but Shunran and her more outgoing nature soon placated her towards the woman, and beside the first surprise, Shizu didn’t show in any way that she was somehow against the cats' relationship. It was, as the woman told Kagome earlier, one of the first things she learned by being in relationship with a youkai – be accepting of their customs, no matter how shocking they might be.

The big group didn’t walk together for too long. Shizu decided that it was time to put Shiori to sleep, and Tsukuyomaru felt inclined to leave with her to make sure she won't get lost on her way to their room. Kagome spend a little more time with the wildcats, before starting to think about getting a night sleep as well. Before she left as well, though, she was left with a message to pass.

"Kagome-san, if you meet Sesshomaru," Shunran said to her after Kagome bid her goodbyes and set a place and time for finding each other again tomorrow. "Can you tell him that Touran-sama wanted to challenge him again? She still hopes to get the Rime Spear before the tournament, but I doubt that anyone but you will be able find Sesshomaru before that. I mean, you probably live in the same room, right?"

"Sure, I will tell him when I meet him again," Kagome replied with a slight smile. Touran, just as she suspected, wasn’t going to give up yet. "But I don’t guarantee him actually coming to see her."

"This is fine," Karan sighed exasperatedly. "We just were told to tell him that if we were to see him by accident. Touran-sama spends all her time looking out for him instead of celebrating. I'd like to see her relax a bit, you 'now?"

Kagome nodded in understanding. She'd like to see Sesshomaru enjoying himself too. It was not to say that she never did before – he quite enjoyed herself on occasions – but Kagome believed that if he only defeated his fear of crowds or whatever was keeping him in hiding right now, he would've found much pleasure in the festival.

' _Maybe I can kill two birds with one stone…_ ' a devious plot started to form in Kagome's head when she was walking towards her and Sesshomaru's room a bit later. ' _If I manage to not let him get away from me in the morning, I may try to get him to see Touran_ and _actually enjoy the festival! I will just need to make sure I will wake up when he leaves the bed…_ '

Now that was a daunting task even for the most daring female. Just as yesterday, when Kagome came in, Sesshomaru was lying in bed already, but this time Kagome was less exhausted and actually took her time to both prepare herself to sleep and plan on how to chain herself to Sesshomaru. ' _Maybe if I_ literally _bind herself to him…_ '

She lied down next to Sesshomaru, curling on his pelt. It was, as he once explained, a part of his body in human form – just a detached part, one that could be taken away from him, though such separation of his youki would’ve been very unpleasant. Still, it was a part that didn’t had that much of a feeling of touch. It was, after all, mostly just fur. And now Kagome was planning on exploiting this fact.

Not moving too much, so she wouldn’t alert Sesshomaru, she carefully untied a length of ribbon that was keeping her underwear yukata closed, and used it to tie Sesshomaru's pelt to her wrist. At some point Kagome almost felt that he noticed her ministrations, but he seemed to either honestly not notice her (doubtfully) or just ignore her, thinking that she was just tossing and turning around. Either way, the coast seemed clear, her mission was complete, and the young woman went to a peaceful sleep.

***

Just as Kagome had planned, she woke up from a sharp jerk at her wrist. Instantly, she opened her eyes and sat up to see Sesshomaru, still dressed down to his underwear and pelt, looking with narrowed eyes at the ribbon connecting him to Kagome. Light of pre-dawn was filling the room through windows made out of thin rice paper and turning that pitch-black of night into shades of blues and grays.

"What is the meaning of this?" he asked. Someone who didn’t knew Sesshomaru better might've pissed their pants from the tone of his voice, but Kagome grew immune to those kinds of things long time ago. Besides, she knew, looking at relaxed line of his lips, that Sesshomaru wasn’t as angry as he might have wanted to appear.

"I am not going to let you disappear on me again, Sesshomaru-sama," Kagome replied at that with determination in her voice. She made no movements to untie them. "At the very least, you should meet with Touran-san, because she wanted to challenge you again, and how can she if nobody can even find you?"

"You have no right to tell this Sesshomaru what he should and should not do, priestess," Sesshomaru hissed, jerking at his pelt as if trying to tear the flimsy ribbon between it and Kagome's hand apart. The action made the strip of cloth dig painfully into her skin, and Kagome rose on her knees to ease the pull.

Now Kagome knew that Sesshomaru was pissed, and despite the fact that she felt anger starting to boil inside of her just from his tone alone, the priestess knew better than to act on it. Making a deep breath, she let herself calm down a little bit and switched her tactic to a more efficient one. Fighting with Sesshomaru bluntly was the wrong way to go, no matter what kind of fight that was – for success you needed to be more cunning.

"Come on, Sesshomaru-sama," Kagome sighed exasperatedly. "I never once had seen you being afraid of anything, and now you are fleeing from such harmless thing as some fun? And not to mention Touran – you’ve beaten her twice already!"

When Sesshomaru's face went from angry to sour, Kagome knew that her verbal strike landed true. The tactic was childish, Kagome knew that, Sesshomaru knew that, and both knew that if Sesshomaru will not meet this 'fun' face to face right now, Kagome will remind him of that until he will revoke speaking right from her again. Part of the priestess was honestly afraid of that, but stakes were high now, and she was willing to risk some silence for a chance to drag Sesshomaru out.

"This Sesshomaru doesn’t find pleasure in dealings with noisy crowds," he finally said with a disdainful snort, snapping the ribbon that tied him to Kagome in one movement of his claws. "But he would hear out whatever Touran wants to say."

"That's great!" Kagome beamed, scrambling to get dressed, while Sesshomaru was doing the same, but much faster and with more finesse. "Shunran-chan said that they will be in the highest garden at sunrise, near the statue of four kirins. And after we meet with Touran-san, we could take a stroll around or something!"

The glance that Sesshomaru threw at Kagome showed clearly what he thought about her 'we could', but aloud he only snorted, waiting for the priestess to get ready.

***

"I, Touran of the wildcats, call you, Sesshomaru of the dogs, to the challenge of mind for the Rime Spear that you hold in your possession!" were Touran's greeting words to Sesshomaru. Even those she spoke a bit faster than normal, as if she was afraid that elusive dog will disappear on her again. Kagome understood the notion – she spent the whole walk to the meeting place holding his pelt despite the glances he threw at her.

"State the rules of the challenge," Sesshomaru replied in bored tone.

"You shall win, if you solve the puzzle on the lock of this box until the end of this Ten Winters Festival," Touran declared, thrusting forward an ornate puzzle box that she held in her hands. "And if I lose, the box and all its contents will be yours."

Without saying anything, Sesshomaru came closer reached out for the box with a clawed hand. He inspected the item with curiosity that was doubled by Kagome. Finally, after careful examination that included smelling, rubbing, shaking a little and lots of looking, Sesshomaru deigned to reply to anxiously awaiting Touran.

"This Sesshomaru accepts the challenge," he said neutrally and turned to walk away with the box in hand. It seemed for Kagome, that Sesshomaru deemed his job here to be done. Now that was a great opportunity to let him go and join Shunran and Karan, who were waving at her happily in greeting, but…

"Sorry, can't stay with you!" Kagome apologized with a sorry smile, before running after Sesshomaru. It would be no good to let him just disappear on her now.

Sesshomaru, at his turn, was walking purposefully through least walked garden's paths, ignoring any passersby who might have recognized him and tried to greet the son of their hostess. Following after him, Kagome found herself in very quiet clearing filled with exotic flowers, that she could swear wasn’t on their way before she and Sesshomaru had walked in. There, he sat under a strange tree with white bark covered in black stripes, and stared at the puzzle box in contemplation.

"May I look at it?" Kagome asked, sitting near him. After a moment of hesitation the box was put into her hands.

Kagome examined it curiously. It was made out of lacquered wood and was as long as one and a half of her palms, as wide as one, and half as tall as it was wide. Little pieces of wood on its sides were arranged into beautifully-made flower ornaments that circled all sides of the box, not showing any hint for the lock or even a lid. When the box was rattled, something quietly shuffled inside. After tinkering with a box a little bit longer, Kagome realized that some of the wooden parts of the box could be slid around, moving and changing the whole ornament with them. After that, the priestess returned the puzzle box to Sesshomaru.

"I never saw such a masterfully crafted thing before," she noted. "I wonder what's inside… Can you smell it out, Sesshomaru-sama?"

"The box blocks most of the scent," Sesshomaru replied with a slight shake of his head. His hands already started to move pieces of the puzzle on the box around. "But what this Sesshomaru can feel is similar to nothing he had smelt before."

Looking at the box with even more curiosity than before, Kagome asked herself if Sesshomaru's curiosity was the thing on which Touran had bid when she came up with the challenge. Sesshomaru was not the cat who was killed by his curiosity, but Kagome had an impression that if not for it, he would’ve just refused Touran's challenge, as puzzles didn’t seem to hold much of his interest. Sesshomaru was more of 'crush a riddle together with the one who makes it' type of the person.

"The festival ends in two days," Kagome added conversationally. She thought what she wanted more – for Sesshomaru to win the challenge so she could learn what was inside the box or for him to lose so that Touran could finally have her spear back. She sympathized with Touran – the wildcat needed the Rime Spear to hold her ground against all those who will be at tournament – but Kagome was also a very curious person.

" _Quiet_ ," Sesshomaru growled under his nose in response. The puzzle pieces moved with sharp clicks of the wood. Kagome sighed, standing up. Her hopes to bring Sesshomaru at the festival were now thwarted completely, so there was no reason to trying to fight the inevitable. After waving a goodbye at Sesshomaru that he completely ignored, Kagome left in hopes to catch the wildcats' foursome somewhere nearby.

***

She was lucky enough to successfully accomplish her self-imposed mission. Shunran and Karan were happy to see Kagome back, and Touran didn't miss an opportunity to subtly ask about Sesshomaru's progress with the puzzle box. The priestess, of course, stayed tight-lipped about that, and soon the conversation flowed towards more neutral paths as the company left the gardens to grab some food and dive into festivities.

Eventually, Shuran left the wildcats' foursome to take a part in eating contest, then Shunran and Karan sneaked away into some quiet corner, giggling all the time, and to her surprise Kagome found herself being left alone with Touran, as they walked by a shore of a koi pond. Without any of the other cats to act as a buffer, Kagome suddenly felt herself out of place near a regal blue-haired woman.

"So… Is there a particular reason for you to take part in the tournament, Touran-san?" the priestess asked, trying to break the uneasy silence. "Do you want one of the prizes?"

"No, they hold little of interest to me," Touran replied in amiable tone, smiling a little. "I am one of those who only come to pose before opposite sex. But I am afraid that without my Rime Spear I will not be able to attract as much attention as I hope to."

"Huh?" Kagome asked dumbly. "Pose? You mean… this entire tournament – is just to show off?"

"Of course!" Touran chuckled. "With how solitary most of youkai live, gatherings like that one are very popular for search of mates, and what is the better way to determine best possible ones if not with a tournament? Even after it ends and Tsume-sama closes her island for visitors again, youkai will continue to scuffle between each other near that area until the very spring."

"Wow, that’s a strange way to find a life partner," Kagome said with disbelief and shook her head. Each day there was something new to learn about youkai, it seemed. She wondered if Sesshomaru ever intended to teach her more about youkai culture or deemed it unnecessary.

"You think so? Well, maybe for humans," Touran admitted with a sigh. "With how packed your villages and towns are, I don’t think you need to try hard to find a suitable mate."

"Well, for humans, parents usually arrange marriage for their children," Kagome drawled. "And most often for political or financial reasons that benefit their families first and only after that the person who is going to get married."

"Really?" Touran looked at Kagome in surprise. "And those marriages, as I heard, cannot be dissolved? So people are doomed to be with only one person for their whole life, no matter if they like them even a little bit or not?"

"Uh… Like this, yes. But if a man is rich, he can have more than one wife. And both men and women could look for lovers on the side," Kagome lowered her eyes. Suddenly, youkai traditions on looking for a mate seemed to be much more alluring than humans', no matter how strange. At least youkai had their freedoms. Kagome herself was lucky enough to be a priestess and be able to avoid the fate of most human women, but that came with other duties, which were not much easier.

"It's a blessing for humans, then, to have such short lives," Touran shook her head sadly. "Are you, Kagome-san, married yourself?"

"No, no!" Kagome denied in hurry. "Priestesses must be pure, so they can't be married."

"Pure?" Touran raised her brows questioningly. Kagome blushed.

"It means that they must be… virgins," she said in embarrassment.

"What a strange choice of words," Touran replied, only to ask another question. Unhidden curiosity was seen in her eyes. "I didn't deal with humans that much during my life. Can you tell me more about their customs, Kagome-san? Say, how they contain their fights over territory, when they live so close to each other?"

Kagome was glad to answer, if only to escape her embarrassment. Touran continued to throw a question after a question at her, some of them of most bizarre kind, as the two women continued their stroll over the terrace. It came to the point where Kagome was starting to look around in hopes for some of the other wildcats to return and save her, and rescue came indeed, even if not in the shape that she expected to see.

"Tsukuyomaru-san, Shizu-san, Shiori-chan!" Kagome shouted out after noticing familiar head of blue hair passing in the crowd. "Over here!"

Thankfully, bat youkai's hearing was sharp enough to notice Kagome's desperate cry despite the noise around and he immediately turned his family towards them. Touran looked at them with interest that soon changed to recognition.

"Are they your friends?" she asked, turning back to Kagome. The priestess nodded with a happy smile.

"We met yesterday," she replied and threw a question back as Tsukuyomaru and his family drew closer. "Do you know them?"

"In passing," Touran admitted and turned to Tsukuyomaru. Then, she flashed him a teasing smirk. "Hello, bat prince. Still living under your father's heel?"

Tsukuyomaru cringed.

"Nice to see you again too, ice queen. I thought you told me you that were not offended with me earlier," he replied sourly. Kagome and Shizu watched at exchange with confusion, while Shiori hid away from Touran behind her mother's back, only sticking her head out to throw curious glances at the wildcat.

"Ahem, so, this is Tsukuyomaru-san, Shizu-san and Shiori-chan," Kagome introduced and intervened before the mood turned completely sour. "And this is Touran-san, she is the boss of Shunran-chan and Karan-san. But I assume that you know her already?.."

Tsukuyomaru shook his head.

"She came to our territory a few decades ago and wanted to challenge me for the den of our tribe, but since I am not a leader of the tribe yet, I send her to my father instead," he said.

"Yes, and the old geezer just turned me away with my challenge, laughing from behind his impenetrable barrier all the time!" Touran hissed angrily. Surprisingly for Kagome, her words towards Tsukuyomaru's father caused people around her not to frown, but nod in sympathy instead. Even Shizu seemed to look at Touran with some kind of approval.

"He never was even a littlest bit amiable as far as I remember him," Tsukuyomaru shook his head sadly. "I am sure that if he wasn’t too old to keep the barrier up, he'd killed me a long time ago."

"But he is your father!" Kagome gasped in shock and outrage. Touran snorted in disdain.

"And a scum," the wildcat said.

"And doesn’t deserve to be talked about at such a good day," Shizu put an end to a topic. Kagome nodded in approval – they all, indeed, had much better things to do today.

The mixed company of humans, youkai and creatures in-between continued to enjoy the celebration and talk about all kinds of things. Touran took an opportunity to ask Shizu and Tsukuyomaru about who arranged their marriage after hearing of their status as husband and wife, and was delighted to know that there were exceptions to the rule Kagome explained earlier – the wildcat seemed to be a bit of a romantic at heart. Touran also declared, after hearing about Tsukuyomaru's goals for tournament, that if she will reach semi-finals, she will ask for a piece of ningyo meat for Shizu, since she didn’t need any of the prizes for herself.

That, in turn, made Kagome, after some thinking, decide to also enlist for tournament later – with the same goal of helping Tsukuyomaru. The bat youkai and his wife, hearing that, were both happy to hear that and worried for Kagome's safety, but were assured by both Kagome and Touran that she will be fine. And while the priestess herself wasn’t so sure about that, that fact that Touran _was,_ made her to breathe a bit easier. That is, until she remembered about Sesshomaru. But she said (and hoping dearly that she wasn’t lying) to everyone else that he won't be a problem, and they believed her.

When Kagome finally returned to her room late at early winter night, she had enough time to completely forget her worries about the possibility that Sesshomaru will forbid her to participate in the tournament, and about the tournament itself. She could barely see Sesshomaru's dark silhouette inside, and hear loud click-clacks of wooden puzzle pieces.

"You aren't sleeping yet?" Kagome wondered, slowly fumbling with ties of her clothing in the dark.

"This Sesshomaru isn't going to sleep until he solves this puzzle, priestess," he replied grimly. Seeing as he spent the whole day on it, Kagome now felt that his chances to will the Touran's challenge were lower than she expected. But he still had a whole night and day and another night. Except…

"So are you going to clatter those pieces the whole night?" Kagome asked with a sigh. A question was rhetorical, but to her surprise she could see Sesshomaru rising up. To her even bigger surprise, his silhouette seemed to be decidedly less _lumpy_ than usual, which could only mean that he discarded his pelt. When Kagome reached out to feel with her hand, it was, indeed, still lying on futon.

"Rest, priestess," Sesshomaru said, walking towards the door and leaving Kagome alone and very surprised. But at least her bed for the night was going to be soft and smelling of him.


	19. ...of violence

Kagome woke up slowly and grudgingly, with sunbeams on her face and a nagging feeling of some distinct wrongness. It was only when she opened her sleepy eyes and blearily looked around that she realized where it came from. She was lying down in warm and fluffy embrace of Sesshomaru's pelt, but he himself wasn’t anywhere near. Even when Kagome remembered how he left her alone with his fur yesterday she still didn't understood why he wasn’t there to take it back yet - it was already past dawn.

Not knowing what else she could do, Kagome decided to went on with her day and keep the pelt with her. It seemed wrong to leave it in empty room, alone, even if Kagome felt strange putting the length of fur on her shoulders. It was quite heavy, and too big in volume and lengh for Kagome to not leave an end to trail behind her.

When the priestess ventured outside, her new accessory instantly gathered everyone's attention. Kagome could see shocked and curious glances thrown at her, could see people whispering things to each other, but nobody dared to ask her, so she put a brave front and ignored the onlookers. What did they knew, after all? Even she herself was in confusion!

Since she slept through dawn, Kagome knew that all her new friends had left their meeting place in gardens already. They planned in case of such occasion, to meet again at midday gong and at dawn, so right now Kagome had almost a half a day to kill. Thankfully, on the festival this was one of the easiest things to do. The last day of it was also the most spectacular. As she walked through the terraces, Kagome remembered Tsume saying that after the sunset it will end with great parade, and after the next dawn people will be able to start enlisting to the tournament.

And just as Kagome thought about her, the female dog youkai appeared before her wandering eyes. She was, just as the last time Kagome had seen her, enjoying herself greatly. Tsume was sitting in a big lavishly decorated palanquin that was lying on the ground before a stage where some kind of music performance was taking place. It was then that Tsume turned away from musicians for a moment, and their eyes met.

Kagome watched from her place in the crowd of listeners how the woman whispered something to one of the servants in her entourage, who immediately dived into the sea of people to move towards the priestess. It wasn't long before the same servant reappeared in front of Kagome with the words that she honestly expected to hear at this point: "Kagome-sama, Tsume-sama wishes to invite you to her palanquin". Of course, Kagome couldn’t refuse, even if she was somewhat afraid that she will not able to leave Tsume's company again until the end of day. She didn’t know the reason for it, but the female youkai seemed to have some particular interest in her.

"Hello again, girl," Tsume said with a pleasant smile when Kagome was seated on pillows near her. The palanquin was spacious enough that between the two women there was enough space for a third one. "How do you find this one's festival?"

"It's absolutely spectacular, Tsume-sama," Kagome admitted sincerely. Even now she was distracted from the conversation by an enchanting song that was flowing from the stage.

Tsume nodded with a pleased expression on her face, before her eyes lowered on pelt that was lying across Kagome's shoulders. She reached towards it with one clawed finger, poking it as if to make sure it was real.

"And what is this? Are her senses lying to this Tsume, girl, or did her vagabond son really left his pelt in your hands?" Tsume asked with a frown. "This one would've accuse you of thievery, if she didn’t knew for sure that you are alive yet and not a ghost! After all, Sesshomaru would never let someone steal from him and live."

Kagome gulped, not sure how to interpret Tsume's inquiry. Was she angry at her? At Sesshomaru? Or just surprised? If Tsume decided to kill Kagome, the whole island full of dangerous youkai will turn against the priestess, and nothing would help her then.

"H-he did," Kagome replied carefully. "I don't know why, Sesshomaru-sama just left it with me yesterday night and walked away. I was very shocked myself."

Tsume snorted, pulling away from Kagome. Her lips again settled into a small, sly smile.

"Well, well, well," she said with a slight shake of her head. "It seems that this one's fears of her son spending his whole life alone were not as justified she thought. She spend so much time, trying to introduce her dear son to strong and charming youkai in hopes that he will finally make friends, and all for naught! All hope was lost, before you appeared. You are quite special, girl, to succeed where this Tsume failed so many times."

"Um, thank you, Tsume-sama," Kagome replied awkwardly, playing with her fingers. The next words came out of her mouth before her self-preservation instinct could stop her from her blunder, and were filled with a surprising amount of firmness. "But I think that if Sesshomaru-sama wants to live alone, this is his right. I believe that he lived for long enough to be able to make his own life choices."

Kagome could understand where Tsume came out from. She knew that youkai were more solitary than humans, but even they tended to live in some sort of groups. Tsukuyomaru had his tribe and his family, Touran had her wildcat siblings (who weren’t actual blood siblings, luckily for Shunran and Karan), Tsume had the whole island of servants and soldiers and guests – Sesshomaru had only her, Kagome, and even that was a recent addition. But she also felt that Sesshomaru preferred it to be like this, and it wasn't right to push him into a different way of life.

But all of that didn’t mean that Kagome had any rights to tell Tsume how to raise her son! Not to mention, chastise the owner of the island where the priestess was hosted as a guest! But, to Kagome's relief, instead of taking offense, the youkai female only smiled wider in amusement.

"Such fire in your eyes, girl! Such protectiveness! Oh, you two are sure worth each other. And how happy this Tsume are that she will have all the time needed to know you better after the tournament! A unique curiosity like you cannot be just passed by, and it seems like Sesshomaru understand this just as well!" Tsume prattled on and on excitedly.

"What do you mean 'all the time needed'?" Kagome asked in confusion and growing dread. She just couldn’t understand how to act with this woman, and honestly, would've been glad to leave her presence. One moment Tsume acted cold, next – hot, and all the time looked like she was only playing all along. It was just plain tiring.

"Oh, didn't this one's son mention it to you? How common for him, to not tell something so important before the last possible moment," Tsume shook her head disapprovingly. "He asked his dear mother to help him with your interesting problem, and since she, of course, agreed to help her son in his plight, you are going to stay on my island for a while longer after the tournament ends."

"You are going to help Sesshomaru-sama with my… studies?" Kagome clarified, feeling an immerse longing for comfort of Sesshomaru's den all of the sudden. "Why? Why would he need this?"

"Oh, girl, it's not that he is unable to teach you everything you need on his own, he just knows that this Tsume will do a much better job. After all, who knows more about female beauty than a female? But don't worry, with this one's help, you will be a prettiest dog youkai in the world – after this Tsume, of course," Tsume hid her smile in her sleeve in an aristocratic gesture, but her eyes still held sparks of amusement and lots of self-assurance.

"That's very generous of you, Tsume-sama," Kagome thanked politely. She was surprised that Sesshomaru lowered herself down to asking anyone's help, more so his mother with whom, as Kagome assumed, he didn't had the warmest of relationships. But it seemed that his perfectionism was stronger than his pride.

"Well then, now let's stop insulting the musicians with indifference! You and this Tsume shall watch their performance, and then she'd like to hear on what could be added to the festival next year," Tsume said, turning towards the stage. "This one is very curious to hear a human's opinion."

"I don't think it will be so helpful. I had only participated in small village festivals," Kagome replied honestly, but stayed put and turned her attention to beautiful music that was played. If Tsume intended to keep her close, then at least her legs will be able to rest at soft pillows, and walls of the palanquin will protect her from stares of people outside. But Kagome still intended to look out for her friends later.

' _I wonder what makes a dog a pretty one for other dogs,_ ' Kagome wondered, as her thoughts started to stray under an influence of soft melody that was dancing in the air. ' _It's probably all in the smell. This is, after all, dogs' strongest sense. I don't know, though, how will_ I _smell all that beauty I will need to understand and copy._ '

***

In the end, Kagome managed to ditch Tsume at midday and spend rest of her day with Shunran, Karan, Shizu, Touran and Shiori, doing what Karan said with a sly smirk, was 'girl stuff'. The statement chased males away and left the females alone to enjoy soak in a local bathhouse, browse stalls full of pretty trinkets and beautiful kimonos, and gossip over their love lives a lot. When, returning to her room at night, Kagome hadn’t seen a sight of Sesshomaru, she was relieved. After all the questions about what was hiding under his robes, Kagome knew that she would’ve blushed if she saw him, even if she _did_ knew what was there. Which she didn’t! She still turned away each time he disrobed for the night! Though, after all that was said, Kagome herself was curious about what Sesshomaru decided to be a perfect 'sword' to hang between the legs of his human form. Was it gigantic? Everyone (besides Shizu, who preferred "more sensible", as she put it, sizes) seemed to prefer their 'swords' on the bigger side. Why did Kagome cared for such things anyway? ' _Where is my priestess' purity now?_ '

On the next day – the day of tournament registration - those questions, thankfully, all settled firmly in farthest corner of her mind, only huddling closer together in fear when Kagome had actually seen Sesshomaru again. His face was a mask of fury, and even his aura, usually perfectly controlled and hidden under his skin, was seeping around in palpable, oppressive, poisonous cloud. The crowds that were even thicker now, than in the previous days of the festival, left a wide empty circle around him.

In his hands he was holding the closed puzzle box.

For Kagome, who was trying to not be affected by Sesshomaru's aura, the situation was quickly becoming a bit funny. He was a very sore loser, it seemed, and Touran, who's smile was quickly becoming as self-satisfied as Sesshomaru's gaze was icy, was a very smug victor. Tsukuyomaru, who stood together with them in the tournament registration line, seemed to be torn between backing away and saving some of his male pride before two women, which made Kagome's desire to smile even harder to resist to.

In even steps Sesshomaru reached their mixed group and thrust the box into readily offered by Touran hands.

"So you had lost," the wildcat woman purred. "Now, what about fetching my spear before tomorrow?"

"Do not test this Sesshomaru's patience, cat," he hissed in response. In lightning-fast movements he grabbed his pelt from Kagome's shoulders, which could only gasp in shock, and draped it over himself. Before Touran had time to say anything else, Sesshomaru's youki expanded around him and he shot away like a brilliant arrow, transforming into a brilliant ball of light in the air.

"What was that?" Kagome asked in confusion, following his flight with her eyes. It was much faster than she had ever seen him fly.

"A form of pure energy," Tsukuyomaru replied in awe, doing the same. "I have only heard of youkai who can assume it. It's completely intangible, and because of that allows for much faster flight than anything else."

"Who cares about this dog?" Touran snorted and grinned. "I had finally won! My dear spear, I will never _ever_ bet on it again!"

"Congratulations, Touran-san!" Kagome smiled as well and looked down at the box in wildcat's hands. "So, what _is_ inside of this box? I was actually so curious…"

"I'd like to know as well," Touran shrugged and pursed her lips. "I just found it in some bandit camp. I tried to crack it up for a whole week, and then decided to use it for a challenge. Actually, you know what, Kagome-san? You should keep it. Consider it a gift."

"What? I can't! It's so well-made, it must be way too expensive for me to accept!" she protested, putting her palms before her in a shielding gesture.

"Well, I don't know what is this all about, but it's really rude to refuse a gift," Tsukuyomaru interfered with a devilish smirk. Kagome's shoulders slumped.

"Oh, Kagome-san, you can just tell me later what was inside and we will be even!" Touran said with a wink, putting the puzzle box in the priestess' hands.

"Thank you very much," Kagome finally said with a deep bow. "And I will be sure to tell you!"

Touran nodded, turning towards the beginning of the line, where a bunch of youkai were testing and listing all participants. "Now," she said. "I wonder what will happen first – we will get to finally register in the tournament or Sesshomaru returns with my Rime Spear?"

***

When the line finally went to Kagome, Sesshomaru was still away somewhere, despite the amount of time that passed – a fact that made her somewhat glad. He, of course, will know that she is participating in the tournament _one day_ , but Kagome was happy to put this moment away for as long as she could. Especially considering his mood after being beaten, figuratively speaking, by Touran.

Two officials – a tall and lanky man and a short, plump female, both wearing appropriate for their positions robes – threw one glance at Touran and Tsukuyomaru before deeming them 'strong enough' and writing their names into the list of participants, to the envy of many other youkai who weren't granted entry (it seemed that most of the long line of people consisted of rejects). With Kagome, though, they decided to take their time, and while the male left to deal with a queue, the woman led Kagome aside to a small training field.

"Please, demonstrate something of what you can do," the female official said in bored tone, gesturing towards the only notable thing around – a boulder that was standing as tall as Kagome was. A scorch marks and cracks on it showed that it was already used for target practice, and a lot.

Nodding, Kagome thought for a moment. She brought her bow and her sword, but the goal was only to demonstrate her power, not to decimate anything. Besides, Kagome didn’t want to alert any of multitudes of youkai nearby. But at the same time, she didn’t want to show too little and get denied from entry.

Finally, Kagome came near the boulder and put her hand on it. Taking a deep breath in and closing her eyes, she sang a low note, pouring her power in the stone just as air was leaving her lungs. She sung and sung, not stopping for a moment, but keeping a close track on the delicate balance of power within herself, until she could feel that the stone cannot take anymore at one go without breaking. When Kagome opened her eyes, the grey rock was warm and slightly glowing under her palm.

"Is this enough?" she asked, turning back to the official. The woman was standing with her mouth open in shock, and was now a few steps farther away than Kagome remembered her standing before.

"Definitely!" the woman nodded vigorously, gathering herself together. "Just give me your name and I will write you in. Tournament grid will be hanged near the arena tomorrow at dawn."

"Higurashi Kagome," the priestess said, giving her full name for the first time in years. She never had a reason to use it, not when she hadn't been at household of her birth for so long. Still, something moved Kagome to say it now. The official nodded, returning back to her colleague, and the priestess went to expecting her Touran and Tsukuyomaru.

"That was amazing, Kagome-san!" the bat youkai commented her show of power as the trio moved from the registration grounds towards their living quarters. "I think that now officials would be able to determine who is strong enough for tournament just by making youkai walk up to that boulder."

"I didn’t thought of that," Kagome said, blinking. She did pour quite a lot of reiki into the stone, as it was big enough to allow it, and could imagine that weak youkai will be not feeling that good near it. "But it's better than accidentally burn someone!" she tried to excuse herself, but was only met with amused smiles from Tsukuyomaru and Touran.

"Kagome-san, I personally didn't expect anything less of you," the wildcat said with almost pride. "Anyone can defeat one of my siblings so easily cannot be weak."

"And I am not!" Kagome nodded and squared her shoulders. ' _I will show them all!_ ' she cried out in her head. She wasn’t sure to whom exactly she will be showing, though. When she thought about anyone to whom she wanted to show off anything, the only image that her mind conjured was Sesshomaru's disdainful face. So Kagome changed tracks. "Don't worry, Tsukuyomaru-san, we will surely get that morsel of immortality for you!"

***

Despite the festival itself being over, the island was still full of people and more were flying in as day progressed, despite living accommodations being short – it seemed that not only Sesshomaru was ready to sacrifice some night sleep from time to time. Stalls with food and all sorts of items from jewelry to weapons were growing around like mushrooms after rain, in even bigger amounts than they were before. Those new crowds, though, were much less friendlier to Kagome than before, and as soon as she left the company of her friends, she felt it on her own skin in form of glares and then, something worse.

As Kagome walked over the terrace towards the stairs to upper levels, she suddenly felt someone bumping hard into her shoulder.

"Watch where you step, wench!" a loud voice was heard. When Kagome raised her head, she saw an ugly-faced and green-skinned oni before her. He was looking at her with angry red eyes, and Kagome could easily see that the oni bumped into her on purpose.

"Hey, this was your fault!" she responded, putting her hands on her hips. "And who did you called a wench?"

"Who else but you, stinky human? You should say your master that this island is no place for bringing his dirty whores!" the oni said, baring his long fangs. Instead of being intimidated, Kagome just felt like exploding from her anger. This youkai managed to call her all possible sorts of names in the span of three sentences!

"I think if someone should leave, it's you! You reek so hard, that not only your nose can't feel anything besides your stench, but even your brain dissolved into puddle from it long ago!" Kagome threw back.

The oni growled at her, lowering his face to her in a show of intimidation, and it was all Kagome could do to not pinch her nose with her hand. He really _did_ stink.

"Ugh, don't come closer!" she backed off in disgust, trying to breathe through her mouth. "What did you ate, some rotting corpses?"

"Enough from you, bitch!" the youkai roared, swinging his clawed hand at her. Kagome dodged, swift on her feet. She noticed that their squabble was creating quite a lot of attention from people around. Many cheered for the oni, while others just seemed to be curious. Either way, Kagome knew that guards were bound to appear soon and wasn't so sure that they will care about who started it first, and who was or was not attacking.

The youkai threw another swing at her, and Kagome dodged again, but noticed that she was stepping dangerously close to the circle of spectators now. The oni was using his bulky stature and long hands to corner her, and people around were glad to help him. Kagome didn’t know how she was going to get out of this situation without being eventually thrown away into some dungeon for fighting.

Just as she was contemplating starting to panic, her ears were hit by a sudden onslaught of loud wailing noises, and a mountain of big, living, bug-eyed mushrooms was thrown on Kagome, the oni that attacked her, and nearest onlookers alike. Everything became a complete chaos, in which the priestess felt someone's small hand pull on her own and led her away.

Kagome trailed swiftly throw crowds, running away from the nearing guards after her unknown savior, until they finally stopped in a small corner behind a crooked trader's stall. It was only then that Kagome could finally look at her helper and see to her surprise, that he was only a child, looking to be eight years old at most.

"Now you are safe from this ogre and the guards, lady!" the kid declared, letting go of Kagome's hand. "They won't find you from here!"

"Thank you very much," Kagome said with a kind smile, examining the kid's paws for legs and fluffy tail. Judging by its orange color, the boy was a young fox youkai. "But what you are doing out there alone?"

"My dad brought a shop stall for a festival," the boy said, puffing his chest out. "We sell the best toys and trinkets of all kinds! You should also come and see!"

"Sorry, maybe later," Kagome shook her head, showing a puzzle box in her hand. "I still need to bring this back to my room."

"Then I shall make sure you get to it safely, pretty lady!" the kid stated. "No one will dare to attack you again when the Great Shippo is around!"

"This isn’t necessary, Shippo-kun," Kagome protested weakly, ignoring the fact that right now she wasn’t even that sure where she was. "I can get there by myself. You should better return to your dad."

Shippo, though, wasn’t inclined to hear her protests, and soon Kagome found herself following after him again. As young fox led her through less-populated alleys of the island towards the upper terraces, Kagome shared her name with him, as well as the fact that she was actually a powerful priestess that could protect herself, and that she was even going to participate in the tournament tomorrow. After hearing from the most excited with this information Shippo that he never talked with a tournament participant earlier, Kagome even promised to introduce him to Touran and Tsukuyomaru later, which made the kid completely ecstatic.

"This is the house for the most important guests!" Shippo exclaimed, as Kagome led him near the building where her room was. "Wow, I didn’t know you were not only strong and pretty, but also a real big boss!"

"Shippo-kun," Kagome said, trying to contain her laughter over that notion. "I am nobody's boss. Now, thanks for bringing me there safely, but I am sure that your dad is worried about you. You should go to him."

"If you say so, Kagome-san!" Shippo replied with disbelief. "Bye!"

"Goodbye, Shippo-kun!" Kagome waved back at him.

***

When she entered her with Sesshomaru's room, Kagome was met with a surprise company of the dog youkai himself. He was sitting near an open window, glowering into the emptiness, until Kagome entered – then he started to glower at her. Despite priestess' knowledge that he didn’t slept for two days, Sesshomaru looked as fresh and pristine as ever.

"Nice to meet you too, Sesshomaru-sama…" Kagome grumbled under her breath. She could understand that he was angry, but it wasn't _her_ fault that he lost! Then she noticed how the youkai's eyes lowered to the puzzle box in her hand for a moment. When Sesshomaru didn’t say anything after that, Kagome went in to put the box on the shelf for keeping.

"Why do you have it?" a question was asked coldly just as a bottom of the box touched wood of the shelf. Kagome tried hard to ignore Sesshomaru's burning eyes on her person. ' _I feel like I just got in a fight with other kids and now expect a tounguelashing from my grandpa. Except, Sesshomaru is not my grandpa!_ '

"Touran-san gave it to me," Kagome replied carefully, still avoiding to look at Sesshomaru, as if even one glance could provoke his wrath somehow. It even wasn't that irrational, since she knew now that in dog body language direct eye contact meant a challenge and a threat. She also knew that Sesshomaru _was_ above beating her for no reason, but _wasn't_ above making up a perfectly good reason for a beating. Say, a fencing lesson.

To Kagome's slight relief, Sesshomaru just grunted non-communally. With the corner of her eye she could see him turning his face away from her and decided that it was safe to look back. The anger on Sesshomaru's face dissolved into his usual cold neutrality.

"This Sesshomaru expect you to fight well in the tournament. Do not be a disappointment," he said suddenly. Kagome's eyes flew wide open in shock. ' _He knows?_ '

"How do you know that I enlisted?" she blurted, feeling unsure if she should be glad to not get a scolding or afraid of Sesshomaru's subtle threat. It was obvious for her, that if Kagome won't show her best tomorrow, she was going to be in deep trouble later. The better question was – would her best be enough, especially if she meets Sesshomaru in one of the battles? Kagome hadn’t seen him in the registration line, but she was sure that he will participate anyway.

"Touran," was Sesshomaru's one-word answer. Kagome nodded, not knowing what to say in the heavy atmosphere. She could tell by Sesshomaru's tense shoulders, that his anger didn’t go anywhere, and was only hidden away for now. For some reason besides her self-preservation instinct, Kagome felt like consoling his wounded pride.

"She told me that she spent a week on that box before giving up," the priestess said, picking the box up again and sitting on the floor step away from Sesshomaru. When Kagome felt his eyes on her again, she put the box on the floor near him. "You know, if you crack it open faster than that, you will still sort of win one over her!"

Sesshomaru looked down on the puzzle box and lifted his palm. For a moment his clawed fingers tensed, as if he contemplated literally cracking it open, before he picked it up to stare at it contemplatively. Feeling bold all of the sudden, Kagome inched a bit closer.

"So, did you make a good progress on it in those two days, Sesshomaru-sama?" she asked, also looking at the box. The wood pieces were now in different positions than they were when Touran gave it to Sesshomaru earlier, but she couldn’t say anything about which was closer to the right one.

Slowly, as if he was unsure about his decision, Sesshomaru moved two pieces in their tiny grooves. They slid in their new places with loud clacks, and then nothing interesting happened again. Kagome waited patiently for Sesshomaru to say something, but when instead he moved one of those pieces back at its previous position, she just tried to understand the puzzle on her own. Sesshomaru himself seemed to have a great amount of ideas about what he was doing, judging by how long he spent on thinking before taking another action.

Kagome became so immersed in trying to understand both the rules of the box and of Sesshomaru's thoughts, that she didn’t noticed nor when she moved over last remaining space between her and the youkai, nor when she snuggled her head in the pelt on his shoulder. Eventually, she caught the pattern behind Sesshomaru's actions and even came up with some of ideas of her own. Those, of course, required to be said aloud.

"I think that you are supposed to move lighter pieces first," Kagome noted, when another move on Sesshomaru's part didn’t led to desired results. "It will free the space for darker ones in the middle."

Sesshomaru's hand stilled in the air. He turned his head towards the priestess, and she suddenly realized how close she was to him, and quickly jerked away and looked to the side. Kagome could feel her cheeks grow hot in embarrassment. And she was also sure that her advice wasn’t welcomed no matter if Sesshomaru needed it or not.

  
"Just now you were granting this Sesshomaru this small chance of rematch, and now you are taking it back, priestess?" the youkai asked, burning Kagome with his stare. His features were impassive, and she couldn’t tell if he was truly angry at her or not. But it was hard to believe that he was only teasing when Kagome still could remember his angry face from this morning.

"I'm sorry, Sesshomaru-sama!" she hurried to apologize, scrambling away and bowing low. "I just wanted to help, I didn’t think… I'm sorry!"

Sesshomaru grunted, turning away from her, and while he didn’t said anything more, Kagome felt that he accepted her apology. It took some time, but eventually she moved back to her previous spot on his shoulder. This time, she kept her silence, trying to understand what Sesshomaru was thinking, doing moves that he did, and trying to predict what he was going to do next. The closeness to him that Kagome felt when she foresaw right was much more than the one that came from their physical proximity.

***

The new day arrived with loud bangs of a gong that were announcing that the tournament was going to start soon. Since she woke up, Kagome was equally excited and anxious about upcoming event. She was anticipating the opportunity to prove everyone, including herself, her strength once again – after being in Sesshomaru's company for so long, she needed this reassurance – but was afraid of how it was going to go. Thanks to earlier stories from her teacher, Kagome knew that there will not be a lot of rest between fights, and was scared to exhaust herself to the point where her youki will start to rebel.

And right now another reason for worrying was added to the pile, when Kagome, Tsukuyomaru, Shizu and Shiori, with whom she met on the way to the arena, looked at the tournament greed that was written on the big wooden tablet near the entrance.

"Oh, this isn't good," said Tsukuyomaru after the first glance and pointed with his hand. "There are only three places in semi-finals."

Kagome looked there as well. Indeed, since in the previous round there were six participants, one of them was skipping a semi-final fight and going straight to finals. According to the grid, chances for such were given to Sesshomaru and some youkai named Hiten. Sesshomaru was going to skip a fight in the second round too.

"And look over there, Kagome-san! You might have a fight with Touran in the fourth round!" Tsukuyomaru exclaimed with his brows furrowed.

"This is good, actually," Shizu inserted her word, putting a hand on Tsukuyomaru's shoulder. "That means that if both of them reach that round, one is going to pass to the semi-final no matter who will win."

"Right, I didn’t think about it like that, love. What would I do without your smarts?" Tsukuyomaru blinked and smiled wide, before placing a surprise kiss on Shizu's cheek. "Well, if you are going to be brains, I am left with brawn!" he joked, flexing his muscles. The show wasn’t that impressing thanks to the layers of clothes and armor that was hiding them, but Shizu blushed anyway, before putting a kiss of her own in corner of Tsukuyomaru's lips. Seeing this Kagome felt her cheeks grow hot from those public displays of affection.

"Dad, don't lose, or mommy won't kiss you again," Shiori chimed in hilariously serious tone. Shizu giggled, while Tsukuyomaru gently patter his daughter's head.

"With a threat like this, how could I?" he said with a smile and turned to Kagome. "Alright, let's go to our lodge. The tournament will begin soon."

***

The tournament arena was a big, covered in sand, circular area of open space, surrounded by sturdy-looking wooden benches that were arranged in tiers. Kagome remembered that when the festival was still ongoing, this place was used as one of the stages for performances – the biggest one. It was certainly build with giant youkai in mind – two creatures of Sesshomaru's true size could fight there and don’t feel too restrained. It was big enough to allow Kagome an opportunity to use her bow in fights, though knowing youkai speeds she was unsure if that would be a good idea.

As participants of the tournament, Kagome and Tsukuyomaru had their own lodges provided – small, but separated with high wooden screens parts of the spectators' area. Tsukuyomaru's lodge was barely big enough to fit him and his family, but they found a corner for Kagome. She could imagine how tightly wildcats' foursome was packed right now with Shuran's wide build, when there was barely enough sitting space at Tsukuyomaru's lodge with Shiori sitting on his knees.

Outside of the lodges it was even worse. Crowds packed the spectators' area so tight that if an apple was thrown in there, it wouldn't have even hit the ground, because it would've landed on the head of one of the many youkai who were just hovering in the air because the lack of other space.

From where she was placed, Kagome could see that just as her, Sesshomaru didn’t go to his lodge, but instead sat near his mother. She, of course, had her own lodge, big enough to fit her, her son, her servants and the big chest that was said to contain all tournament rewards – list of which was going around the place for quite a while.

A tall and bulky ogre hit the great gong thrice, announcing the beginning of the tournament, and the spectators cheered loudly, making Tsukuyomaru wince from the noise and Shiori to close her ears with her hands. Then, Kagome saw Tsume rising from her sitting place.

"This Tsume is glad to greet you today, fellow youkai, at her forty-third Ten Winters Tournament!" she announced loudly, somehow overlapping all the noise. "Let the strongest and the most cunning win today and ripe their rewards, while we will cheer for them and enjoy this great spectacle of bloodshed!" with those words Tsume and Sesshomaru both smiled the same scary smile, just as crowds started to cheer again with double the power.

The gong was hit again, and the first pair of fighters was announced by a tall official that Kagome seen to register participants yesterday. Both names were unfamiliar to Kagome, but she still couldn’t stop her hands from shaking. Her turn will come as well, and soon.


	20. Cheek brings success (not)

The first fight had ended fast. The second, that also didn’t featured anyone familiar to Kagome or Tsukuyomaru, lasted a bit longer with both opponents shooting energy beams at each other, almost hitting the audience at times if not for the protective barriers around the arena. Before the third fight began, a familiar voice called to Kagome through the noise of crowd.

"Kagome-san! Kagome-san!" she heard. Looking towards the source of it, Kagome saw the fox kid Shippo wave his hands at her from the top of the thick screen that was shielding Tsukuyomaru's lodge from neighbors. Kagome's eyes flew wide open in surprise.

"Is he another one of your friends?" Tsukuyomaru asked, also looking up. "You sure have a lot of them."

"Shippo-kun, what are you doing there? Get down!" Kagome admonished, though with a happy smile, standing up and reaching her hands to help the kid to get down. Around her spectators cheered for a beginning of a new fight, but Kagome ignored it. As Shippo jumped in her embrace, the priestess turned him towards other people in the lodge.

"This is Shippo-kun," she said, sitting down and letting Shippo sit on her knees – there just wasn’t any other free space to sit. "He helped me yesterday, so I promised to introduce him to other participants of the tournament. Shippo, this is Tsukuyomaru, he is also going to fight today, and these are Shizu, his wife, and Shiori, his daughter."

"Nice to meet you, Shippo-kun," Shizu said, smiling a mother's smile. "Now, Shiori-chan, what do we say when introduced to people? I just said it…"

"Nice to meet you, Shippo," Shiori whispered, hiding her face from the new person in her father's chest. Tsukuyomaru chuckled, patting her head.

"It's Shippo-kun, or Shippo-san, Shiori-chan," he said. "It’s rude to address people without honorifics unless they give you their permission to do so. And I am pleased to meet you to, Shippo-kun. Did you come here with your family?"

Shippo nodded energetically, grinning from ear to ear, before launching into explanation how his dad was a trinket trader, and then switching to asking questions of his own. There were many of those, like what kind of youkai Tsukuyomaru was, why they were participating, and if they fought in one of the Ten Winters Tournaments before. Shizu was glad to explain it all, while Tsukuyomaru and Kagome tried to keep a closer eye on the tournament so they would know their future opponents better. Besides that, Kagome's fight was next.

It was numbered fourth, while Touran's was seventh and Tsukuyomaru's – ninth. Sesshomaru, for some reason, fought last in each round. Shizu guessed that it was because of him being the long-time winner, while Tsukuyomaru blamed the fact that he was also skipping both rounds with uneven number of people.

Either way, the third match was soon over and Kagome was called into the arena. None of the fights before that one ended with death, but not because any of participants pulled their punches – white sand of the arena was turned red with blood after each match, and servants ran again and again to switch it with fresh one. And while youkai were sturdy enough to survive all of that, Kagome was a human, and now twice as worried.

"Well, it's my turn!" she said, pulling a smile on her face and making a deep breath to calm her nerves. "Wish me luck!"

"If Touran-san was there, she'd told you to not doubt yourself," Shizu said with a smile.

"You will totally destroy them!" Shippo added, jumping down from Kagome's knees as she rose.

"But if you want this luck, I will make sure you will have it!" Tsukuyomaru said with a wink. Kagome smiled genuinely now.

"Thank you all!" she said, making her way down to the arena.

***

Her opponent, someone named Kuzuri, was waiting for Kagome already when she finally stepped onto the arena. He was a tall and young-looking youkai with long dark hair pulled into ponytail and gleaming red eyes. Kuzuri was also wearing a long cloak framed with black feathers that hid the rest of his clothes, armor and weapons. Kagome wondered if his name meant that he was a wolverine youkai, or if it was unrelated, since his clothes made her think about some sort of bird.

As Kagome approached her starting position, she could feel Kuzuri's piercing gaze on her. It was as if those red eyes of his were reading not just in her looks, but in her body, mind and soul as well. Finally, just as Kagome stopped, her opponent looked down and sighed heavily. From up close, Kagome could see tired lines under his eyes.

"Let's fight well," he said in bland tone, bowing in greeting.

"Are you sure you are well enough to fight? You look tired," Kagome asked with concern after returning the bow. Even if this person was her opponent, she couldn’t help herself.

"I am fine," Kuzuri waved her question away in a lazy gesture, showing a glimpse of his body-fitting dark armor that reminded Kagome of youkai slayers' clothes. She didn’t really believe the man. She couldn’t tell by his aura, as he hid it very well, but Kagome could see his slumped shoulders. Still, if he wanted to fight, what could she do?

"Let the strongest and most cunning win," Kagome finally said, quoting Tsume's earlier words. When she raised her eyes for a moment, she could see both her and Sesshomaru watching her closely. ' _Well, if I wasn’t anxious before, I am totally anxious now!_ '

"And the fight between Kuzuri and Higurashi Kagome… begins!" an announcer, the lanky official, said from this place on the outside of the arena.

Just as the last syllable of the last word left his mouth, Kuzuri rushed into attack with a katana that he produced from under his cloak. The energy he showed just now contrasted greatly with the weary state he seemed to be in. Unsheathing her own sword, Kagome parried the strike without even thinking. It wasn’t faster or smarter than Sesshomaru's attacks, and as her body moved on autopilot, she realized that she could see her opponent's movements without much of a problem. Then, she moved to counterattack. Tsunohiyoru leaved gleaming trails in the air, and Kuzuri parried and dodged it with a special care, pursing his lips in visible pain each time the sword came too close.

Kagome felt exhilarated. She pushed her opponent to retreat further and further away towards the edge of the arena. He was quick on his feet, and she didn't managed to even nick him yet, but she had all the initiative while Kuzuri was stuck in defense. Then, suddenly, he jumped far back and sheathed his sword.

For a sliver of a moment Kagome thought that he might want to yield, but then she remembered how many of youkai she saw fighting before only had swords with them as decorations, preferring to fight with their own claws or, in many cases, youki. With that Kagome held Tsunohiyoru tight in both hands, preparing to defend herself from whatever energy blast he might shoot at her.

Instead of that, Kuzuri flapped hems of his cloak, making black feathers fly everywhere. They floated in the air for a moment, before transforming into multitudes of red-eyed crows, which, in turn, flew towards Kagome with loud caws. All of that happened too fast for her to again close the distance between her and her opponent, and she was left with only a moment to think about what to do against a new threat.

She could feel small amounts of youki in the crows, and see Kuzuri take out a set of shuriken behind them. Thankfully, Kagome had something in her arsenal especially for this occasion – a trick she rarely used, but one that was very convenient in cases like this. Still holding Tsunohiyoru in one hand, she reached with another inside her fighting clothes - red and white garments of a priestess.

"Shikigami!" she exclaimed, throwing a stack of paper talismans she produced towards the flock of attacking birds.

Creating shikigami was one of the skills that not many priestess and monks possessed, mainly due to the fact that this knowledge was considered bordering on witchery and was not taught often. But it was a very versatile one, though it had one important flaw. Shikigami were only as strong as reiki that was put into them, and you could only put so much reiki into paper, from which they were usually done, before it will break. It wasn’t that important in usual offensive ofudas, since they needed to be charged only for the amount of time necessary for them to fly to the target, but it wasn’t the same with shikigami. No matter how strong of a priestess you were, without something to strengthen the shikigami (hair and blood were usually used for that), it will be very weak. Right now, Kagome used just normal paper, but judging from the crows' weak auras, it should be enough.

The paper charged with her reiki transformed into several big eagles that easily began to hunt down attacking crows one by one. Smirking a little, Kagome looked towards her opponent just in time to closely dodge a bunch of shuriken that were flying at her, and ran towards him.

Kuzuri didn’t flee again, instead switching his weapons to two kunai and fighting back with them. It was harder for Kagome to defend against two weapons at once, not having that much experience even against swords, and she soon paid for her lack of skill with a nick on her shoulder. Crowds cheered for the first blood just as Kagome managed to retaliate with a swift stab that came close enough to Kuzuri's side to leave visible burnt patch on his clothes. From the distance she was in, she could have purified him on the spot at any given moment, but she didn’t wish to actually kill the youkai by accident. She also needed to save her reiki for the future fights.

And it was such a nice feeling to have her excruciatingly painful sword training pay off.

They fought like that for a while longer. Kagome didn’t even really noticed small wounds that Kuzuri managed to inflict on her under rush of her blood, but always eventually retaliated in some way, though Kuzuri avoided really bad hits. He continued to summon more and more crows, but Kagome's shikigami dealt with them, and the sky above the arena was constantly filled with bird's cries and beating of wings. But, finally, Kagome managed to do a thing that she was going towards since the beginning of the match – to corner her opponent.

He was now standing back to the very edge of the arena, where a barrier was keeping viewers safe. Kagome was panting. Blood that was flowing from the cut on her lip, filling her mouth with its bitter, burning taste. She smiled, not even wincing.

"You have nowhere to run now. Just give up," she said.

Kuzuri shrugged, dropping his weapons on the ground. He let out a tired breath and scrunched his face in pain. His cloak was full of burned holes from Tsunohiyoru, and many similar wounds were hiding underneath it.

"I yield," he said simply, turning his remaining crows back into feathers that fell to the ground in a small black rain. Kagome nodded, doing the same with her eagles, which returned to her as pieces of paper (reusable!), and sheathed her sword. It was already completely clean of blood or anything else, since it only touched youkai matter, which he burned into nothingness on contact.

Crowds booed and whistled over the lack of gore, and somewhere announcer told everyone about Kagome's victory, but she wasn’t listening. Rush of battle was slowly leaving her, letting her feel burn of all the scratches she got in the fight as she walked towards participants' lodges. She had all the time in the world until her next match – with her almost-youkai healing those small wounds will most probably heal before that.

Despite the wound on her lip, Kagome couldn't stop from grinning from ear to ear. ' _I won, I won! And without just blasting him away with reiki! Now, only three more fights to go, even two if Touran-san gets to the fourth round!_ ' she was thinking, almost dancing as she walked. Then, she threw a glance at Tsume's lodge, and wasn’t at the least surprised to see both dog youkai looking at her – Tsume with an amused smile, Sesshomaru with narrowed eyes. That dampened Kagome's good mood a little, but she still had her future fights to prove him. ' _He will not be looking at me like that later on,_ ' she swore for herself, ' _Even if he has a dozen of lectures about what I did wrong in that fight!_ '

***

When Kagome returned to Tsukuyomaru's lodge, her sitting place was taken by Touran, who held almost jumping from excitement Shippo on her knees. And of course, as soon as the priestess stepped in, she was instantly assaulted by everyone.

"That was amazing, Kagome-san!" Shippo exclaimed, almost falling down from Touran's knees from all of his movements. "How did you make those eagles? Can you teach me? Please, please, please teach me!"

"Quiet, kit," Touran pinned him in place with a palm on his head. "Kagome-san, that's a nasty looking cut on your face, and your wounds smell strange. You shouldn’t have let this weakling to injure you like that; I think his blades were poisoned!"

"Kagome-san, you are bleeding! It's a good thing I've brought those bandages with me, though I was hoping not to use them," Shizu gushed as she started to rummage in her small bag.

"Kagome-san, will you be alright for the next fight? Humans easily suffer from lack of blood even from small wounds," Tsukuyomaru asked with concern as well, moving closer to the edge of the lodge to free a sliver of space for Kagome.

Even Shiori whispered something worriedly, but Kagome couldn’t hear her over voices of everyone else. She could barely understand what people were asking from when they talked at the same time like that even when they were actually loud enough to hear over the noise of crowd around.

"Please, please, I can't hear what you are saying!" she cried out, overlapping the stream of exclamations and questions, and somehow wriggled inside of the lodge. "Touran-san, did you said something about poison?"

Touran leaned closer – an action that was easy to do when everyone were already packed so tightly already – and sniffed Kagome's face. "No, I am taking my words back. Your blood smells really strange, had since our first meeting, Kagome-san, but I've only noticed now, when it had been spilled," she said, pulling back. "But you still shouldn't have let this wimp to injure you!"

Kagome just smiled apologetically, while Shizu produced a hefty roll of bandages and a gourd of water to wash Kagome's scratches. At the same time, the priestess also got her own healing salve from a hidden department in her quiver. Everyone gradually calmed down and Kagome assured everyone that she will be ready for her next match when its time will come. Shizu helped her to take care of her wounds, and just as the women were done, Touran was called down to fight some female canine youkai (Kagome couldn’t tell if she was a dog or a wolf from just her tail).

While the fight wasn’t hard on Touran, Kagome still had a great opportunity to see the wildcat in action together with her spear. She conjured ice out of thin air with an artistry of a theatre performer, and played cat and mouse with her helpless victim for a while before finally leaving her encased in ice. The spectators cheered for Touran with all their might, and even if wildcat was going to lose in her next fight, her goal to show off, in Kagome's opinion, was already achieved. Judging by Touran's face when she returned to the lodge, she also thought so.

In the next match Kagome saw someone familiar stepping in the arena to meet his opponent. She nudged Shippo, who sat on her knees again now, and pointed at the green oni with naginata, not wishing to speak with the bitter salve on her lip.

"Oh, this is the same guy who attacked you yesterday, Kagome-san!" he exclaimed, rising up to see the fight better. "I hope he will get beaten!"

'The guy' did not – while the fight was quite tough, in the end the oni ended up being a victor and his opponent was lying down on the ground in a barely-alive bloody heap. While Shippo was pouting over this situation, Kagome looked at Shizu helplessly, believing in her ability to find something optimistic to say.

"He will lose eventually," the woman did not let Kagome down. "He still needs to fight Touran in his next match."

"Oh yea, she will totally kick his ass!" Shippo immediately agreed only to get scolded by Shizu over his use of bad language and him corrupting their daughter with it, who only giggled quietly over the whole situation. Tsukuyomaru seemed like he also wanted to insert his opinion there, but he was nudged by Touran towards the arena.

"It's your time to shine, bat prince," the wildcat said with a smirk, picking up Shiori from her father's knees to free him some space to squeeze out of the lodge. "I hope you can do more than just hide behind impenetrable barriers."

As it turned over, Tsukuyomaru indeed _could_ do other things than that. He was one of the few youkai who used their swords not just as decoration, and while his style of fighting wasn’t as flashy as Touran's, it did its job. With Tsukuyomaru's quite impressive speed and strength, the fate of his opponent – a youkai whose head that was for some incomprehensible reason floating separately from his body – was soon sealed despite all his tricks with strings.

Now Kagome and her friends had more than a half of the first round before any of them was going to fight again. A few matches later Shippo decided to return to his dad before he gets worried, while Kagome decided to wander off a little, both to free some space in Tsukuyomaru's lodge, and to grab some snack for a long day ahead. With the speed tournament was going there was a high chance for the finale to happen after sunset.

After she got some fried squid from a passing peddler, instead of returning to Tsukuyomaru, Kagome went to her own lodge, one that was blissfully empty. There, she finally had some space to stretch her legs and let her scratches, which already started to scab over, heal without anyone bumping their sides into them. She spent her time just relaxing and memorizing her possible future opponents, wishing that she could remember tournament grid a bit better.

Of course, Kagome was eventually found by someone – namely Touran – but after finding a reason for Kagome to sit alone, wildcat didn’t insist on bringing the priestess back with her. Instead she just stayed in Kagome's lodge, providing her comments. As she told to Kagome, this tournament was first one in which she participated, but fourth at which she was a spectator, and most of truly notable and powerful youkai also were long-time participants. Touran, as she said, also could have been one of them, but she and her siblings moved into the area relatively recently, and led a quite secluded life before that.

***

When her second fight finally arrived, only one fight after Sesshomaru completely decimated his opponent, Kagome's skin was smooth as new and her spirits were high. She knew her opponent already – a youkai named Koga, who's main forte was his speed. Besides that he didn’t showed any notable powers despite showing off his whole fight, so Kagome was almost sure that he didn’t had anything hidden in his sleeves. Which he also didn’t have – his clothes consisted of bare minimum of furs, with a breastplate and a sword thrown over it with little regard.

There, on the arena just ten steps away from him, Kagome could also finally feel for herself all the power of his incredible personality that was earlier hidden from her by the distance to the spectator's places and all the noise around. And it knocked Kagome from her feet with much more force than his strikes.

It's all started almost innocently.

"Hm, I see you have a pretty face," Koga said contemplatively when Kagome came to her starting position. Then he added assuredly: "Don't worry, I won't hit it."

"Thank you," Kagome said coldly, as she unsheathed Tsunohiyoru. She was trying to keep her rising anger in check, but without much success. ' _Who did this guy thinks he is, to pull his punches only because I'm a girl with a pretty face? And his arrogance! Ugh._ '

But it only went worse after that. At first fight just went normally – in other words, as an actual fight. Koga used his superior speed to literally run circles around Kagome, who in turn used flashes of reiki from her hands and her sword to leave him nasty burns if he dared to come closer and actually strike. Each one of those flashes, in Kagome's anger, was powered up to knock Koga out, but he always managed to dodge at the last possible moment, to Kagome's frustration. That continued until the priestess decided that she had enough and flared her reiki brighter than previously just as Koga moved to dodge.

He still mostly evaded the blast, but the leftover force sent him flying to the ground. With his youkai stamina, Koga, of course, stood up a moment later, to Kagome's displeasure – but she didn’t liked the sparks she saw in his eyes when he run closer again.

"I decided!" Koga said with a grin, stopping just far enough to not be in immediate range of Tsunohiyoru. "What was your name again… Kagome? Kagome, you are going to be my woman."

"What," Kagome said, almost dropping her weapon in shock. It was one thing to hear that youkai used the tournament as some sort of matchmaking grounds, but completely different – to feel it on her own skin. Weren't most youkai against mixing with humans in that way?

"You are a human, but you are strong and pretty," Koga said with the same satisfied smile. "I came to the tournament to find a mate, so I can just yield now, and when it's over you will come to live with me."

Before Kagome could even start to think about what to say on something like that – before even one thought appeared in her head after the earthquake that Koga created inside – the impudent youkai already moved further. Moving Kagome's sword aside, he half-embraced her, pulling her closer to him.

"Just like that," he said, staring into Kagome's eyes in what could have been considered a romantic moment. "Did you get it?"

It was at that moment that Kagome's brain finally resumed her work, instantly giving a command to her hand. One loud smack later the distance between Kagome and Koga was restored again, and the priestess got her tongue back.

"Don't touch me just like that!" she almost shrieked in anger, before calming down a little bit and continuing in still irate, but more reasonably low tone. "And I am not going to be your… anything!"

"Why?" Koga asked in confusion, inclining his head to the side. "I have a big pack and a nice den. Birds of Paradise are a bit of problem on my territory now, but with you I am sure we will deal with them easily. You will be happy with me, I promise, Kagome."

For a moment, Kagome had a list of possible reasons going on in her head: ' _Because I cursed horribly and will be a danger to you. Because I am already a servant of Sesshomaru-sama, and I know he won't let me go to be with you. Because I am a human, and you are youkai. Because I am a priestess and should stay pure. Because I had just met you. Because I don't love you. Because you don’t love me. Because you are an arrogant jerk._ ' It was a long list, and all of the reasons were valid, but looking at the face of patiently waiting for her answer Koga, Kagome felt that none of them will be enough to really keep him away.

But Kagome knew now, what almost every youkai respected even before they adapted human norms of society to themselves - power. So instead of any of the above, Kagome said: "Because you aren't strong enough for me. I don't want to be a woman of someone who can't even beat me."

That, indeed, shut Koga up, if only for very, very short period of time.

"Alright!" he said afterwards. "I will train to be strong enough, and then you will become my woman!"

' _I guess this is good enough. I will probably never meet him again after this tournament anyway._ ' Kagome though, a bit relieved, as Koga gave his surrender to the judge and run off from the arena. She also turned to walk away. As she walked to the stairs, her eyes flew to Tsume's lodge again. Emotions in there were just as after her previous fight, if stronger – instead of smiling, Tsume seemed to be plain snickering in her sleeve, while Sesshomaru looked livid. Kagome shivered, hoping against all hope that the reason for such moods was not her, but Koga.


	21. Catfights

As soon as Kagome entered her lodge, she was greeted not only by Touran (whom she expected to see), but also by an unfamiliar youkai in robes of a servant, who passed an invitation from Tsume to visit her lodge. Of course, Kagome couldn’t refuse, even if she was almost sure that a person who really wanted to speak with her now was not Tsume, but Sesshomaru. All that Kagome had time to do before leaving her wildcat friend was to pass wishes of good luck for her upcoming match.

Each step through packed passages between spectators' places added another drop into the chalice of Kagome's dreadful anticipation. If Sesshomaru was taking time of his day to call for her now, did that meant that his anger rose too high for it to wait until later? He didn’t show any desire to keep her close during the tournament until that moment, and half of the matches had already passed! It was past noon now.

When Kagome entered the luxurious lodge, Tsume and Sesshomaru sat in the middle of it, watching with interest the match on the arena. Both youkai sat straight, like two heavenly spirits that were sent by gods to oversee mortals and send back words of their doings. But Kagome knew perfectly well, that if those two came somewhere, it was probably not Heaven, but Hell. Just as one of the fighting youkai finally finished her opponent with a devastating blow that cleaved him in half and sent the crowds into frenzy, marking the second death of the tournament, Tsume grinned and turned to Kagome.

"Hello, girl," she gestured with her hand towards a sitting place to the free side of her, starting to babble happily. "This Tsume was most overjoyed to see you in the tournament! This one honestly wished to call you to her lodge from the very start of it, but how could she tear you apart from your friends just like that? That would've been most cruel," she shook her head in mock sadness. "But when this one's dearest son expressed his wish to say a word to you, girl, how could his mother refuse, when her soul so longed to talk with you again?"

"Mother, you don't have a soul," Sesshomaru remarked in cold tone, just as Kagome hesitantly sat on adjourned with pillows seat near his mother. "You sold it for a second tongue. Will you ever cease your idle prattle?"

Kagome stared at him like Sesshomaru just grew a second head. While the words could have been easily interpreted as an insult, they looked like a joke (as long as you knew Sesshomaru's face well enough to tell that there was no negativity written in his features), sounded like a joke (if you knew how to listen), and Tsume laughed at them, like they were a joke (which, Kagome thought a moment later, wasn’t that much of an indicator). ' _So… Did Sesshomaru-sama just made a joke?_ ' If yes, then this was a first.

"Sesshomaru-kun, how could you be so cruel to your dear mother?" Tsume asked mockingly. "But this one will blame your impatience to speak with the girl for that. And the lover-boy's most hilarious performance, of course! Ah, it's still winter, but pheromones already fill the air…" she sighed dreamily, but her lips were stretched in a smirk. Sesshomaru snorted.

"The wolf was of no significance, mother, even if he was showing incredible stupidity. Priestess," Sesshomaru suddenly turned his heavy stare to her, and Kagome instantly remembered all the fears from which she was distracted. "Your fights until now were most unsatisfactory. This Sesshomaru does not wish to see even one more match that ends with any surrender but most forced one, from your or your opponent."

"Hey, they are my _opponents_! How can I tell them _not_ to surrender? I can't control their actions!" Kagome protested, sighing with relief on the inside. If Sesshomaru was just peeved about that, then she was still fine.

"Then try," was the only words Sesshomaru said in reply, before turning back to the new match that was starting on the arena. For a moment Kagome just sat with indignantly puffed cheeks, as she contemplated what exactly she was thinking about commands like that one, before its dire implications caught up with her.

' _Wait a moment, that means that I won't be able to surrender for Touran or Tsunohiyoru if we meet in fight, or accept a surrender from them! And if I do anyway, what will Sesshomaru do?_ ' Kagome looked at him from the corner of her eye, but cold figure of the dog youkai didn’t gave her much hints into what he was thinking about, so she moved her thoughts towards her new friends.

Touran already expressed her wish to fight with Kagome in all earnest if they come up to it, so, the priestess guessed, it will be fine to fight with her. Tsunohiyoru, though… Well, the only place where Kagome could meet with him was at semi-finals, and it was quite improbably that not just one, but both of them will reach them.

"Well, now that this one's son is done with his lectures, let us all enjoy the show together!" Tsume exclaimed as soon as it became clear that Sesshomaru wasn't going to say anything else, and launched into an animated monologue. "Seeing as your friends, girl, had you for a half of the matches, this Tsume thinks that it's only fair that you spend the rest of them in her company, don't you agree? Now that the weakest combatants are already out, most interesting fights will began! Oh, this one is so excited! She hopes that Hiten will be a good competition for her son this year – he was showing such great potential last few times this Tsume saw him enter the tournament."

"His powers are more suitable for large-scale battles, not for a competition like this one," Sesshomaru commented. "But he has a spirit of a warrior."

Kagome started to realize that her assumptions over the cold relationship between Sesshomaru and his mother were probably incorrect. He rarely ever spoke that much without probing, or that lightly, with Kagome for as long as she knew him (and this without even mentioning the joke from earlier). And now, as the conversation continued in the similar manner, with Tsume chirping lively about this fight and that, and about her favorite participants so far, and Sesshomaru throwing a sentence in from time to time, Kagome realized how little she still knew about her teacher.

That discovery didn’t stopped Kagome from listening in the conversation, or launching her own questions at always ready to answer dog lady. Tsume's insight over her future opponents was the most useful giving her experience, and Kagome wasn't going to pass that up, nor was she going to ignore all the delicious food that was lying around for lodge's occupants to indulge in during the tournament.

***

Kagome's third match was long, hard, exhausting and just plain horrible. The spider youkai who was her opponent quickly left her two previous adversaries in neat cocoons, and did her best to do the same thing with Kagome. And when the priestess burned cobwebs with her reiki, the giant spider moved in melee to just try and skewer her.

Thanks to Tsume's insight, Kagome knew both about the poison that the spider could conjure not just with her mandibles, but with her youki as well, and about hard chitin shell that deflected most weapons with ease. As practice showed, weak flares of reiki didn’t leave a trace on it, stronger ones only irritated the youkai, and Kagome's best attacks (i.e. stabs with heavily charged Tsunohiyoru that were more or less equivalent in power with her purifying arrow shots) at best left small holes in the thick shell.

In turn, the spider was physically strong enough to make Kagome's barriers ripple a little and slowly suck on the priestess' reiki, filled the whole arena with a cloud of poisonous miasma that also required reiki to constantly purify it, and was seemingly inexhaustible. As Kagome run and tumbled around her in hopes to hit some weak point, or at least deal enough small wounds for her to finally succumb to their sheer amount, the spider was making her best to tire her out.

And last but not least, she was a giant, damn it, spider! Kagome was not going to tell anyone anything about the form they preferred to walk around in, but she was just gross with her shiny black chitin, dripping with poison mandibles, eight blood-red eyes and strange hairs around her abdomen. Gross and terrifying! At least she couldn’t fly.

In the end, Kagome managed to land a lucky hit at one of spider's joints, cutting off the whole leg, which left the youkai shaken for long enough that Kagome could come closer and put a thick stack of binding ofudas on her forehead, to the loud cheers of the audience. The spider was still twitching weakly when the judge announced Kagome's victory, but either he considered her incapacitated anyway, or some of the youkai's weird rattling was a surrender. At this point, Kagome couldn’t bring herself care not just about that, but even about a leg she cut off. ' _She still has seven of them. She will live._ '

Either way, while Kagome won, she dreaded her next fight, and nothing felt more enticing to her now than soft pillows of Tsume's lodge (and right now she wasn’t even concerned about its inhabitants anymore). The woman whom Touran was going to fight now was quite ferocious, and no matter who of them won, the priestess' next match wasn’t going to be easier than this one. Thankfully, even if Kagome didn’t had as much time to rest as she'd liked to, she still had _some_ of it. And Tsume was the most gracious host, ordering servants to refill her cup with rejuvenating tea and making sure that the priestess didn’t need anything.

"You fought most courageously in that match, girl!" Tsume commented with approval as Kagome sipped on her drink, almost moaning in bliss. The tea blend was amazing, and judging by soft traces of youki in it, not made from human herbs. "This one admits that she was very curious about how you will deal with an opponent like this one, which was why the spider was put against you. Any other youkai, besides elementals, that is, would've assumed their true form to make their opponent to lose the size advantage, but even without that ability you did remarkably great!"

Kagome sighed. Oh yes, she knew on whom to put blame with anything concerning the tournament grid – the one who made it, which meant Tsume. She couldn’t really fault her for the match ups, though – it wouldn't be good for anyone if Tsume showed any favoritism.

"Indeed. Given your lack of experience with swords, you couldn't have done more," Sesshomaru agreed with a slight nod. Kagome felt warm inside under his praise, even if it seemed to be small. It wasn't that easily given. She couldn’t stop herself from smiling.

"And why elementals wouldn't have transformed?" Kagome asked Tsume curiously.

"Hm, and impromptu lesson for you, girl? Why not! Servants will need some time to clear the stage from leftover poison before the next fight!" the dog lady replied, rising her eyes to the sky. "The elemental youkai are not like animal ones. Many of them are born not from parents, but from the nature itself. Those elementals prowl around the place of their birth until they meet some creature whose looks they like well enough and then copy their form – such is a basest instinct of their young. This form becomes the true one for an elemental, and those of them for whom it’s a human one, rarely bother to learn another. As for those elementals that are born from parents, they inherit their looks from them. And with how many humans around, is it so surprising that most of elementals these days imitate them?"

After that Tsume launched into a tale that her great grandmother told her when she was still young, about times when grass was greener, trees were taller, sun shone brighter, humans were just particularly smart bald monkeys and you could have met elementals in all kinds of shapes. Sesshomaru seemed to tune it all out, while Kagome listened with avid curiosity, as she was reminded again that Sesshomaru was _centuries_ _old_ and his mother, of course, was _even older_. It's only ended when a bang of a gong announced a beginning of Touran's match against a bird youkai Abi (whom haughtily introduced herself as princess Abi despite not being an actual princess), and everyone's attention was drawn to the arena.

Two beautiful youkai females stood on its sand, ready for battle. They seemed to be complete opposites of each other: where one was wearing blue colors, another was clad in reds; where one held spear in her hands, another didn’t possess any sort of weapon besides her claws and fangs; where one held powers over ice, another commanded fires. But both held similar arrogance in their postures and faces as they exchanged greetings and some words that Kagome didn’t heard.

Even Tsume kept silent, as the fighters began first steps of their deadly dance. Kagome watched, transfixed, how Abi perfectly countered Touran's ice attacks with her flames and sent her own back. They seemed to perfectly balance each other, and both possessed a predator's grace, though where Touran moved like flowing water, Abi's motions held more of fierce and explosive quality. And both often stopped to exchange more words that Kagome couldn't hear. She was going to ask Tsume what did they say, but help came from unexpected side.

"They just exchange insults in typical female fashion," Sesshomaru said just as Kagome opened her mouth for question. "Do not concern yourself."

"Ah-ah-ah, Sesshomaru-kun," while Tsume didn’t turned away from the show on the arena, she still shook her head disapprovingly. "In a fight for dominance between two women, supremacy of wits is just as important as supremacy of fists! But these two, for now, are even on both accounts. And what a wonderful spectacle they show us! This Tsume shall pit them against each other on the next tournament as well for sure."

Next exchange of words between the two fighters was more heated, and Tsume snickered in her sleeve over something that was spoken. Now Kagome was curious.

"What did they said?" she asked.

"Oh this was a good one! The wildcat said: 'The only place where you will ever have success is a pot of chicken soup'," Tsume said, to add with over-exaggerated embarrassment, "The bird's answer was too crude for this one to repeat it, though. That would've been most unbecoming..."

"And yet, you will say it anyway," Sesshomaru said with a hint of despair in his voice.

"But of course, Sesshomaru-kun!" Tsume smiled brilliantly. The expression caught with a corner of her eye made Kagome turn from a fight to look at it fully. Tsume always looked unearthly beautiful, but this smile made her look as if Amaterasu herself stepped down from her divine palace for a moment. Kagome couldn’t help but try to imagine a smile like this on Sesshomaru's face, but that just seemed way too strange and unnatural. "This isn't a social dinner, after all, and how could this Tsume not to share words that amused her so much? So, girl, the bird said: 'And nobody will ever sleep with you in fear of their manhoods freezing off'! How crude, but how entertaining!"

Kagome couldn’t help but express her agreement, even if she was blushing at same the time. The fight continued with more and more fervor as placed insults slowly reached their goal to anger and humiliate the opponents. Tsume continued to repeat her favorite jibes for Kagome, even the dirtiest ones.

Finally, something that Touran said reached the end of Abi's self-control and bird-woman's eyes turned red from rage. With a loud scream of rage she soared high up on a cloud of flames, with Touran immediately following after, conjuring an ice slope right under her feet as she run higher into the air.

"'What, you don't have a comeback? Did you already use everything your mommy made for you?'," Tsume repeated for weaker human ears. "It seems that the wildcat was the wittiest one in the end. Now, will she be also the strongest?.."

"The real fight finally begins," Sesshomaru said. He didn’t seem to find the exchange of barbs that interesting; knowing him, Kagome though that he probably believed it to be foolish.

Just as the dog youkai announced, both opponents stopped talking and started to fight in their earnest. In the air, Abi had a noticeable advantage in maneuverability, but where her strikes were blind from her flaming rage, Touran kept a cool head on her shoulders. The wildcat continued to dodge and block with a seeming ease, which made Abi only more furious with each hit. At some point her frustrations became so overwhelming, that the bird woman just plain charged straight at Touran, as if going to tear her apart with her bare hands that started to transform into bird talons as she flew. Kagome gasped, not able to contain her tension over the resulting clash when Touran didn’t even tried to dodge, instead choosing to meet her adversary head-on.

Getting close to Touran was, though, a horrible mistake for the bird-woman – her burning talons weren't good enough to oppose the Rime Spear. One touch was all that Touran needed to start encasing Abi in ice, dousing her flames. When the bird youkai tried to fly away, it was already too late for her, and in the next moment she dropped to the ground as a part of a great slab of ice, and Touran raised her spear in a salute to a loudly cheering audience.

"What a performance!" Tsume let out excitedly. "This Tsume just can't wait for your match with the wildcat, girl!"

Kagome, who was cheering together with the crowd over her friend's victory, froze with Touran's name on her lips, before slowly lowering back on her seat. She didn’t thought about that before, but indeed – since Touran won now, her next match will be with Kagome, and after what the wildcat showed now, the priestess felt doomed to end in another slab of ice. And that without even mentioning Kagome's general unwillingness to hurt people that she called her friends! Except for Sesshomaru, but the jerk deserved every hit she managed to land on him. And it was not like they were really friends anyway – at least Sesshomaru would surely never admit anything that was even remotely close.

"Are you sure I can't just yield, Sesshomaru-sama?" Kagome looked at him with pleading eyes. "Please, I'm so tired already, she will just win anyway!"

Sesshomaru stared at her coldly from his height for a while in response. It was a kind of look that people usually gave to especially gross and disgusting things, and Kagome felt small and weak under it. She really wished to take her words back.

"Sorry, Sesshomaru-sama," she shook her head, putting a smile on her face. "I understand. 'One who loses all hope before the battle had already lost', right?"

Kagome concluded that this placated Sesshomaru a little, as his glare softened almost unnoticeably; if she looked really hard, she could even imagine a slightest hint of approval in it. He nodded slightly, turning away.

"Do not fret, girl," Tsume suddenly said in an unusually serious tone. "This is the most unbecoming of a warrior like you. Even when death is imminent, one should not cover, but instead stand upright and challenge the gods of death themselves."

Kagome blinked, straightening up. Her limbs were still heavy after her fight with a spider, but both Sesshomaru and Tsume reminded her about the life she led as the guardian of Shikon no Tama. It was a life of constant fights and dangers, and she bore scars to prove it, but did Kagome ever showed her fear to the enemy? Truth was, that she did – not always her battles were easy, and often had Kagome feared if not for her own life, then for lives of others – but that didn’t stopped her from defeating her foes in the end. And tournament's matches weren't even to the death, despite the casualties of today, especially Kagome's fight with Touran. ' _Now I just feel silly._ ' It was not like Kagome was new to pain, after all, or any of her opponents were in real danger from her unstable side.

"Thank you for reminding me, Tsume-sama," Kagome said with a bow. The regal female smiled slightly in response, nodding favorably, and her attention returned again to the arena and the next battle, that was about to begin.

***

Kagome was glad to see Tsukuyomaru winning another fight, even if he was sporting a broken wrist (left, thankfully) as a result of it. She shouted her congratulations at him from her place, and saw him wave and smile back at her – just as the priestess hoped, bat's youkai keen ears were able to hear her words over the voices of everyone else in the crowd.

Two fights later, it was Sesshomaru's turn to test his strength. The lightning youkai Hiten was powerful, and while he wasn’t a real threat to the mighty dog, he gave him enough of a challenge that the match wasn’t over in a moment. When Sesshomaru, victorious, returned to his mother's lodge, he seemed to hold himself with a new energy, as if the fight made him less tired, not the opposite.

And now it was Kagome, who stood on the sand of the arena again, with Touran opposite of her. The wildcat woman smiled and bowed slightly in a friendly greeting.

"Glad to see you here and now, Kagome-san" she said, planting butt of her spear in sand and tossing her long blue hair. "And I know that you probably too tired for it, but I was hoping for a nice spar with you, especially after how you dealt with that spider."

If Kagome concentrated on it, she could feel that Touran's aura was weaker than usual. It was clear that even if the woman didn’t show it, she was quite wearied by her previous match. Knowing that even youkai weren’t completely inexhaustible made Kagome feel a bit better about herself. At least she wasn't _too_ weak of a human, even if she couldn’t fight all day long without a break like some.

"I still have some energy left in there, so be careful!" she boasted, smiling in response and unsheathing her sword. "Let's do this."

Touran nodded with a smirk in response.

A gong banged and the fight had officially begun. As soon as that happened, the wildcat twirled her spear in her hands and pointed with it at Kagome, before charging forward like a flood wave – graceful, quick and seemingly unstoppable.

Kagome knew herself and her opponent well enough to understand that the only thing that waited for her in a clash of weapons was a quick loss. Touran knew how to fight with her spear well and had decades of experience, while Kagome could barely fight against another swordsman. She didn’t stand a chance against a master spearman… or a spearwoman. She was only left with her holy powers to defend herself and try to keep Touran away.

Kagome channeled a ray of reiki through Tsunohiyoru, holding it like it was a magic rod. It flew straight towards Touran, but she dodged barely, shielding herself with ice where the attack came too close to her skin, and continued to advance just as Kagome jumped back and fired an another blast. It also missed, and the next moment the wildcat was close enough to try and stab Kagome with her spear.

Knowing that even one touch of the giant spiral icicle will most probably mean her defeat, Kagome dodged desperately, at the same time putting a barrier around her. It wasn't a big one - Kagome's energy was low, and she was trying to spare it where she could. Touran's strike hit the barrier and slid to the side harmlessly, but at her exhausted state the toll it took on the priestess was felt sharply by her. She didn't think that she could hold the barrier under a barrage of attacks for long.

Touran, though, seemed to have a different idea. After another strike at a barrier, one that seemed a bit half-hearted, she stepped back.

"A barrier? Ugh. I think that I am growing to hate them. Now, I have no patience to try and break it, Kagome-san, so…" she twirled her spear again, gathering a considerate amount of youki around – probably almost everything she had left with her. Kagome moved back, ready to dodge and block and destroy whatever ice contraption the wildcat would send at her, but when Touran planted the butt of her spear in the ground, the priestess realized that the danger will not come from before her, but from beneath her.

Circle of looming ice almost instantly grew from the ground, taller than Kagome, surrounding her from all sides and blocking her view completely except for the patch of an evening sky. Just as the priestess thought about what reason Touran could have to trap her like this, the walls of ice circle began to change their shape and advance fast towards Kagome, as if trying to squeeze her between them. Not having any better ideas about what to do at the short moment of time, she held onto her barrier, hoping that it will be strong enough to survive the clash with the ice.

The walls and the barrier came together with a hiss of melting ice, but Kagome's defenses held strong, and a moment of tension later she felt a pressure on her barrier dissolving. She let out a breath, relaxing a little, but not putting her holy shield down just yet. Was that the Touran's powerful attack? Kagome didn't lost yet, she still could break her way outside. She looked around. The walls of ice seemed thick, and they were surrounding her completely, even from above now. Her barrier was quite small, and how she barely had enough space around her to raise her elbows, which will not make her task easier. But it was still possible, and Kagome started from looking for a weakest point - the place where there was the most of light coming through should be it.

"Now, your barrier will become your prison!" Touran's shout was heard from the other side of the ice walls. "You can try to get out, but will you be able to do it before your air supply will end? Of course I will break the walls before you completely suffocate, but be happy to yield anytime, Kagome-san!"

' _And now, a time limit,_ ' Kagome frowned, chewing on her lip contemplatively. She couldn’t tell how much of it she had, only that there were few minutes at least, and that her time will grow shorter if she starts to breathe a lot. And then there was a matter of what she will be doing _after_ she breaks her prison to consider. She can't just let Touran to assault her with a spear again, she needed a better plan, and thanks to her opponent Kagome had an opportunity to come up with it. She could feel audience shouting something, but ice walls muffled sounds, making cheers and boos indistinguishable.

"And how will you know if I am suffocating?" Kagome asked aloud, thinking about possible answers. Could Touran somehow see inside the prison, or was she able to determine just by other senses?

"Don't worry, I will hear easily if you will fall unconscious," Touran replied. "I may not be nor a bat, nor a princess, but my ears are keen enough for something so simple."

That information made Kagome's situation a bit easier. She sheathed Tsunohiyoru (a bit awkwardly because of lack of free space) and though hard. Some time – a minute? A few minutes? - later she could almost feel cold air around become staler and staler with each breath, but wasn't sure if it was just her imagination or not. Surely she had more time? And the walls now seemed to be closer, though Kagome still kept her barrier up as it was before. But she had an idea now, and while a dirty one, it was probably a best shot she had.

"Touran-san," Kagome said. "I have decided that I will not give up without trying. Let's see if your ice as strong as it looks!"

With that she put her palms on the wall before her, channeling her reiki. Ice made of youki sizzled and melted as if Kagome's hands were surrounded by fire, not by her holy power, but as soon as Kagome stopped for a moment, it started to grow right back. She took a deep breath, mindful of her shortening air supply and of her diminishing reiki, and continued with her task, making sure not to spend too much of both. She felt chill from the ice seep inside her, but ignored it.

When the ice wall before her had a palm-deep hole in it, Kagome felt dizzy and decided that it was a time to stop. Stumbling – very naturally, as it wasn't even really an act – Kagome felt to her knees, holding onto the wall for support and breathing heavily. Still, she pursed her lips in determination and tried to stand up, before falling again. This time, Kagome slumped completely, closing her eyes and pulling her aura within, hiding it.

Just as she expected, a moment later the ice prison broke, dissolving into nothing, and Kagome let her body fall to the sand completely, at the same time breathing in much needed fresh air. She could feel a pulse of Touran's aura coming closer.

"Kagome-san! Are you alright?" she asked from right above her. Hearing no response, Touran leaned closer. After a short pause, she added louder, as if to someone further away, "She is breathing, but unconscious!"

"Then the winner of the match is-" a judge began, only to stop mid-sentence as Kagome suddenly sprang up to Touran and hit her hard in her chest with a stack of ofudas she held in her hand - the binding ones, leftovers from her previous fight. The audience let out a collective gasp of surprise and then an onslaught of shouts of all kinds.

Touran opened her mouth in silent scream, before falling down, _truly_ unconscious. Kagome looked at her still form with mixed feelings. Her plan had worked well – Touran never noticed the ofudas she prepared in her hand before pretending to suffocate, though Kagome barely managed to weave her spell to life stealthily before the judge announced her loss – but she didn’t enjoyed using her friend's concern against her.

After a long moment judge tried again: "And the winner of the match is Higurashi Kagome!" This time nobody interrupted him, and just as the words were said, Kagome took her ofudas away from Touran. The wildcat blinked drowsily, before shaking her head and standing up. She looked at Kagome with great respect.

"So you won," she smirked. "Guess I had underestimated you in the end."

"You are not offended that I had tricked you like that?" Kagome asked with a bit of disbelief.

"Some might have been in my place, but we, wildcats, always had an appreciation for guile of a practical kind – not like senseless pranks that foxes like to perform, mind you," Touran replied and picked up her spear from where she dropped it to the ground. "And there is no trick too dirty when it comes to attaining victory."

"Then I wonder why you never tried to trick Sesshomaru-sama in order to get your spear back," Kagome asked with raised brows.

"Isn't that obvious?" Touran smirked, turning to the exit from the arena. "I am not stupid to step on the dog's tail."


	22. The finale

In all honesty, Kagome was expecting Tsukuyomaru to forfeit his next match. One of their group reached semi-finals already, and the bat youkai was nursing a broken wrist – surely he wasn't going to fight in that state? But in the end, her prediction proved to be wrong.

Tsukuyomaru's opponent in this fight was a youkai named Manten, Hiten's younger brother. While looking as different as the sky and a bald boulder, brothers shared powerful lightning powers, which both had enough matches to demonstrate in fullest. When the Tsukuyomaru was standing across Manten on the arena, with his left hand in a splint, he looked ready to surrender right there and now – that is, until Manten opened his mouth.

Kagome didn’t hear what the elemental said, but Tsukuyomaru looked at first horrified, then angered, and then just very determined. He had replied something quietly, and Kagome really wished she could read lips. When the fight began, he charged into attack first, making the priestess gasp in surprise and confusion. With the corner of her eye she could see Sesshomaru frowning slightly, while Tsume raised her brows in surprise.

"What happened?" Kagome asked aloud, looking at the two youkai near her helplessly. "Why Tsukuyomaru-san is fighting in his condition? What had Manten said?"

To her ever growing confusion, Sesshomaru and Tsume exchanged meaningful glances before any of them answered.

"After bragging over his imminent victory, the elemental expressed his desire to defeat you in his next match and take your head as a trophy," Sesshomaru said in toneless voice. Kagome looked at him with wide eyes. Is that what had angered Tsukuyomaru so much? And it seemed that not just him – the priestess could literally feel waves of Sesshomaru's wrath with her skin. His aura pulsed heavily, making goosebumps rise over Kagome's body. Was he angry over her wellbeing? She shivered involuntarily, both because of the aura and the idea of someone turning her into a potion, turning away from her teacher and to the fight below. Thankfully, Tsukuyomaru held his ground even with only one hand, at least for now.

"Why would he want this?" she asked. It made no sense – Kagome never ever met this guy before!

"Oh, don't you know?" this time it was Tsume who decided to grant some explanation to what was happening. "Beat fire with fire, cure diseased with healthy. Baldy just wants to make a hair growing potion out of your mane, girl. This Tsume must admit, though, that while his gall is definitely outrageous… You have great hair for a human indeed," with these words Tsume rubbed a lock of Kagome's hair in her hand, making her turn towards her.

"Uh, thank you, Tsume-sama," Kagome said a bit awkwardly as the dog lady let go of her hair. The priestess brushed her locks with her hand. "I use a lotion made from eggs and burdock to make it healthier."

"How interesting! You will need to tell me more about this, girl," Tsume replied with new sparks in her eyes. "But later. It seems that your protector is in trouble right now, after all," she pointed at the arena, and Kagome looked there just in time to see Tsunohiyoru fly to the ground after being grazed by a strong blast of lightning from Manten's mouth.

"Tsunohiyoru-san!" Kagome gasped, watching over enrolling battle with fear and worry. ' _Stupid, why didn't you surrendered? I'd be fine! I could have taken him on for myself, or just forfeited the match at any given moment. I am sure that Tsume-sama would've interfered if I did and this guy continued to fight!_ '

The bat prince, though, still had some tricks in his sleeves. As soon as he was standing on his two feet again, Kagome saw him sheathing his sword and reaching somewhere under his charred armor. At the next moment Tsunohiyoru threw several small projectiles – some sort of dark balls – into Manten. He easily deflected them with his bare hand, but as soon as that happened they exploded into a cloud of greenish smoke.

"Trickery," Sesshomaru commented with disdainful snort. "A maneuver of the desperate."

' _Whatever lets him to win,_ ' countered Kagome in her thoughts. ' _This isn’t against the rules!_ '

The cloud soon dispersed under gusts of wind from opponents' movements and from Manten's thunder blasts, but the damage was already done – the elemental was keeping his puffy red eyes closed shut and was attacking completely blindly. Tsunohiyoru seemed to be in similar state, if a bit better, but was acting with the same precision as always. It didn't take him much time to knock Manten out and be declared a winner, even if many people in the audience seemed to be unhappy about this. But Kagome could see Touran and her wildcats cheering wildly from their lodge.

"Thank you, you idiot! You did great, but I'd be fine without your help, do you hear me?!" the priestess loudly added her opinion to all the voices in the crowd. In response, Tsukuyomaru only smiled at her bashfully, before returning to his family.

***

When Kagome stood near him a bit later at the sand of the tournament arena, Tsukuyomaru's eyes were fine, and he was smiling at her again like nothing happened. Kagome, though, was filled with increased dread. She didn’t want to fight with him, and what was even worse – after her battle with Touran, her reiki was so low that she barely got enough of it to keep herself in check. The match had already begun, but nobody yet did a step towards each other.

"I had never really thought that not only I will get to the semi-finals, but you too!" Tsukuyomaru said, chuckling. "Be sure to grab yourself something nice from the rewards later."

Kagome pursed her lips, unable to feel happiness about future rewards. Instead, she was filled with growing anxiety. Her youki responded to it with its pulsing against hair-thin confinements of her reiki, on which Kagome reacted with even more dread and worry. It was a cursed circle that only Sesshomaru's presence could break, and he was far above, watching at her with his impassive yellow eyes, not calming even a little bit.

"I know that Sesshomaru-san told you to not give up, but you really should, Kagome-san. You barely stand on your feet, there is no way you fighting him!" continued Tsukuyomaru, looking at her with worry. "But if you aren't going to, I will. And if he says anything about that, he might as well say it to me."

Of course the bat youkai heard her dialogue with Sesshomaru, and of course he was now trying to help her, because he was just that kind. Now Kagome felt even worse. She was almost sick, both from worry and from youki trying to emerge. She was almost at the bottom of her spiral of madness, and concentrating on anything else besides keeping the vile power inside of her contained was hard.

"I…" Kagome half-said half-gasped. She wasn’t sure anymore, what exactly she wanted to say – to yield, or something else, because in the next moment youki inside her responded with vengeance at her attempts to contain it, and Kagome's words were cut out by a cry of anguish.

It was the one thing she could never truly get used to, despite everything. Oh, it got easier with time to just try and forget, ignore that part of her metamorphoses, but it was always there and always strong. When Kagome channeled her transformations it distracted her from the torture a little, but this time wasn’t one of those. The priestess didn’t had time to prepare herself for the onslaught, and how was barely holding out in a middle of a storm.

She could see eyes of a person in front of her widen as she jumped towards him. She could see and hear many more people all around her, but that one was the nearest, and he was doomed to suffer the consequences of her pain-induced rage. When he jumped away, she followed. When he surrounded himself with an opaque red sphere, she clawed at it with all her might, feeling angrier and angrier when it didn't broke even when she rammed it with her heavy horns.

"Kagome-san, what's going on?!" the person inside the sphere cried out. "I yield! Somebody, help her – I think she isn't well!"

She rammed at the sphere again – it didn't worked, but the action of putting her whole body weight into the singular attack felt nice – when she felt a strong presence approaching. The smell was very familiar, and she quickly turned towards the new enemy. She knew well that he was strong, and he beat her often before, but that only made her desire to destroy him burn hotter. She roared and charged.

A heavy wave of youki descended on her like a downpour on a flaming forest. For a moment she stopped, standing right before her familiar enemy. Clarity appeared where her pain retreated, but running on leftovers of it together with her previous bad feelings, Kagome threw a heavy punch towards Sesshomaru's face anyway.

It didn't land, of course. He stopped it with his palm effortlessly, and then just as easy caught Kagome by her collar and helped her to stay upright when the rests of her transformation wore off.

"Don't sleep. You still need to fight this Sesshomaru," he said, letting go of Kagome when she regained some stability.

"Kagome-san, are you alright? What had happened?" Tsukuyomaru asked with worry and almost panic as he run up to her.

"I am fine now," Kagome smiled weakly at him. "Sorry, Tsukuyomaru-san, I will explain everything later, alright? It's a bit of a long story."

Tsukuyomaru looked at her with disbelief, but in the end just sighed and wished her luck in her next fight, before leaving the arena. With Kagome and Sesshomaru already present in it, the next match could start immediately. And so it did.

"You still need to work on your stamina," Sesshomaru noted, circling Kagome slowly. "You will start now, priestess."

Kagome snarled at him in annoyance and anger. If translated from dog it was supposed to mean a rude request to go somewhere and leave the speaker in peace, but Kagome probably pronounced it wrong. Not that she cared much at this point anyway.

"The spite of you," Sesshomaru smirked, as if appeased somehow. "But is there any bite in that bark?"

' _That prick!_ ' Kagome felt like boiling. She'd probably started her metamorphose right there and now from that anger alone, if Sesshomaru's aura didn’t clouded the whole arena like a thick blanket, keeping her in check. ' _I will show him what happens when you underestimate the underdog! And what the hell is with all those dog puns?_ '

She unsheathed Tsunohiyoru, filled with determination and stubbornness to the brim, despite the fact that her limbs felt like they were made of lead, her head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and her reiki was so low that the sword in her hand wasn't glowing as usual, instead just looking as if it was made from normal steel.

Sesshomaru advanced without hurry with Tenseiga as his weapon of choice. The sword that cannot cut danced in his hands, landing strike after strike on Kagome's frame despite her attempts to protect herself. And even if it actually healed her body instead of wounding it, her pride suffered none the less. It was as if Sesshomaru was going to toy with her until the priestess will just fall down from exhaustion.

' _No way this is going to happen so easy for him,_ ' Kagome thought, grinding her teeth as she and her teacher and sometimes torturer clashed again. Sesshomaru waved around her block, piercing her heart through. With that stab he left himself open for a moment, and Kagome knew that this was her chance. This would have never happened in real fight (because in real fight she'd be dead right now), but at this precise moment Sesshomaru was left open and relatively vulnerable.

Kagome stepped forward, ignoring the sword in her chest and gathered the rests of her reiki. As Tsunohiyoru stabbed, shattering Sesshomaru's pauldron and piercing his shoulder with a loud hiss of burning flesh, she felt the youki run freely inside of her body, with no force to stop it even for a moment. But this time Kagome was ready, grabbing the reins of it and putting the image in her head, the same one the example for which was now right in front of her.

His face with its features twisted in pain and anger was now so close that their breaths mingled. She could feel smell of his blood - metallic with most exquisite acidic undertones. They reminded her of something, some kind of dish or a drink, but she wasn't going to think about it when she was in such pain. She needed some relief from it, right now. Maybe a taste of that blood will help? She moved forwards, ignoring the thing that was still stuck inside of her, and tried to grab a bite, but was thrown away with a great force.

She turned around in the air, landing on all fours only to spring forwards, her paws eating distance like it was nothing. She knew that the person in front of her wasn't really her enemy, but also knew she needed to show him who was better. And grabbing a bite or two from him in the process would've been great as well.

He tore her metal stick from his shoulder and threw it to the ground just in time to meet her onslaught with his claws. She roared as they clashed again. Despite his wound, her opponent held her back, not letting her land another strike, and with each moment without any progress she felt more and more frustrated and less and less distracted from her eternal torture. It was hard to remember that she wasn't supposed to try and land lethal attacks, or how she needed to look. She could tell that her opponent wasn't trying to kill her either. Some part of her didn't even wanted to resist, hoping for a blessing of unconsciousness, but everything else drowned out its weak pleads with rush of blood in her ears.

It didn't change anything in the end – even when she forgot about everything besides continuous need to destroy things and her attacks became merciless and even wilder, her opponent didn't fell. Instead, he landed a blow on her head, finally putting everything under a blanket of calm darkness. But even in that darkness, there was pain.

***

Kagome's memories afterwards were even blurrier than usual. Maybe it was a defensive reaction of her brain, because what she _could_ remember of last events was filled with lots of anguish. She still felt echoes of it even now – loud, persistent echoes. In other words, Kagome felt terrible. She also was, for some reason, lying in what looked like a prison cell.

She groaned, lifting her head up a little and was met with Sesshomaru's impassive gaze behind the metal bars. She tried to pierce events that led to her being in that prison cell together. First, she wounded Sesshomaru, using lasts of her reiki. Then, she went berserk. Then, she went even more berserk. Then Sesshomaru knocked her out. Then she woke up in a cell… still berserk. Her memory didn't gave Kagome much information on how long she spent raging in her confinements, though nicks and scratches on the walls around her were innumerous.

"You was too reckless, priestess, and now is suffering the consequences of your own actions," Sesshomaru said, unlocking the door. He might have looked calm, but his pursed lips and his next words were showing that under this cold façade a storm of emotions was hiding. "You didn't need to try so hard to prove me your tenacity."

Did that sound like worry? Kagome could swear it was worry. And he didn't use the third person when referring to himself, which he only did that one time when he was really angry at her… She'd ask, but her throat was too dry and her eyelids were too heavy. Smiling a little, she closed her eyes, feeling Sesshomaru's warm hands lift her up, and fled away from her aches into nothingness again.

***

When Kagome woke up next time, she was lying on a futon in what looked like a normal, if big and luxurious room. A cup and a jug were standing near her head, and under a window, Sesshomaru was writing something over a low desk. She still felt horrible, though – and not with aches of tired muscles and healing bruises. It felt like her blood was burning twice as hot now, and twice as painful, as if she was nearing her transformed state, except she wasn't. Kagome looked inside herself, only to feel her youki calm, and her reiki still not full, but replenished greatly. What happened to her?

Sesshomaru put his brush away and moved closer to Kagome. He sat near her, before pouring some water from the jug into a cup and leaving it near her. She reached for it gratefully, her hands shaking and barely able to bring the cup to its destination without spilling its contents.

"How long I was… raging?" Kagome asked when her thirst was quenched.

"A day," Sesshomaru replied. His eyebrows were lowered, like in anger, but otherwise he seemed to be calm. "You were able to regain consciousness when your reiki replenished a little."

"I feel awful," Kagome complained, not expecting to hear any condolences in response. Of course, they didn't come.

"This Sesshomaru doesn't know if the reason for this was the time you spend in your unstable state, or your lack of reiki to prevent it, but there are some changes to your body that aren't disappeared even now," Sesshomaru said instead.

His words caused Kagome open her eye wide in shock and dread. She sat up in hurry, throwing her blanket to the side and looking over her body in search of those changes. Did she have a tail now? Scales? Maybe chitin, or some additional limbs? None of this seemed to be true at the first glance.

Before Kagome could panic further, Sesshomaru grabbed her hand and rolled up a sleeve of her yukata (which was definitely not what she was wearing before). Kagome stared at him in confusion, and then at the place to where he was pointing with his eyes.

It was the hair on her hand. If she looked at it, she could see that small hairs that always were just a shade lighter than the hairs on her head, were now of the lightest silver color. A small, almost unnoticeable change in comparison to what she imagined. Kagome let out a deep breath of relief.

"This mutation might seem small, but it's a first step towards your death, priestess," Sesshomaru stated, letting go of her hand. "It's also not the only one. Your body now is a little more youkai in its nature, and the war within it storms stronger than before."

Kagome shuddered, looking herself over again. Was that why she felt so terrible? Was she going to feel like this all the time now? Was she going to die soon, not learning how to properly transform into a youkai form she was learning about for a half of a year?

"Servant will bring you some food soon. Finish your rest," Sesshomaru said, standing up. "You aren't going to get any afterwards until you finish your education."

***

Kagome's rest lasted two days, quarter of which she spent looking herself over in a big mirror which servants brought for her after she asked for something reflecting. Of course Tsume's palace will have an expensive thing like this. It was very helpful in noticing her other changes, though.

First was her eye color – what, as Kagome remembered, was once a common brown, now had a distinct bluish tint in it, especially noticeable under a bright light. Second were her nails that became thicker and stronger, though still far away from Sesshomaru's claws. Her canines now looked a bit longer and felt strange and unfamiliar in her mouth when she touched them with her tongue. Her tongue itself felt normal, but definitely _wasn't_ normal – it was longer now, and as if thinner. When Kagome tried, she could reach both her nose and chin with it. Her ears changed a shape as well, not becoming pointy, but getting closer to it. And all of her senses now seemed to be a little bit better in general.

The changes, while harmless or useful, felt scary. Kagome felt like a stranger in her own body, afraid of it changing again into something completely foreign one day.

"All of those mutations belong to your future second form," Sesshomaru noted, when Kagome quietly expressed her fears to him. She wasn't sure what moved her to this – maybe it was the fact that Sesshomaru knew the most about what she had to live through with her blood curse, or maybe that little care he showed to her both recently and in the past. And she wasn't even that surprised when he answered with something like words of comfort and praise. "Even when in mindless rage, you kept it in mind. And this form is not unfamiliar to you anymore."

Kagome also had other visitors in those two days. Tsume came, of course, congratulated her over her second place in the tournament and told her that she might get her reward at any time. Kagome was also surprised to see all her new friends come over as well with well-wishes, congratulations, expressions of concern and questions. They told her that Tsume allowed them to stay for a little while after the end of the tournament to see Kagome getting better. Tsukuyomaru also got the piece of ningyo flesh he was fighting for, and Shizu already had time to eat it, though there was no way to say if it worked or not yet.

In return, the priestess told to her friends an abridged version of the story about the curse of Shikon no Tama, and how Sesshomaru helped her to deal with it in return for her servitude. Kagome was glad to see that nobody looked at her any worse after that – if anything, they were just more worried over her health. Both groups, Tsukuyomaru's and Touran's, stayed until the next day, before leaving with heartfelt farewells, promises to drop by and invitations to visit, and with that Kagome had again returned to her previous life of studying hard.


	23. A time to reminiscence

Without any visitors around the Cloud Castle felt to Kagome as if after an extinction event. Oh, there were still plenty of people on its grounds: servants, soldiers and members of Tsume's court, all busy with their businesses; but after how crowded it was only few days ago the island could have just as well be completely empty. Sesshomaru seemed to relish in it. The priestess caught few glimpses of him just strolling around with his gaze turned far away, or sitting with her puzzle box, still trying to learn its secrets. But Kagome didn’t have any time to spend with him, because most of it now temporarily belonged to his mother.

"To this one's great sadness, your worsening condition doesn't give us enough time to indulge into the theme of female aesthetics as deeply as this Tsume would've liked to," she said with a deep sad sigh in the beginning of Kagome's first lesson. Both of them sat in Tsume's study – a room filled with countless scrolls and curious trinkets, "so this one will just restrain herself with teaching you only basic principles, and then helping you to design your future look. Hopefully, you will have enough time to adjust it later."

"Adjust?" Kagome asked, interrupting Tsume's words when she paused to take a breath. A moment later beginnings of an apology for her rudeness already left Kagome's lips, only to be dismissed with a careless wave of dog lady's hand.

"Ah, don't be afraid to ask questions, girl. This one does not know the depths of your ignorance in the matter, after all, and how far exactly she will need to know to fill that gaping void," as Tsume tapped her chin contemplatively, Kagome was torn between feeling relieved and insulted.

"Speaking of your question, girl, this Tsume is sure that you know that youkai's bodies are made entirely from youki, considering your previous training," continued Tsume. Her eyes twinkled with mirth as she looked down at Kagome's face. "Youkai are beings of spiritual nature, mind for us comes before flesh. And if one can persuade his own mind to believe that his body has different form, it will indeed become so. Even after this new shape was created and solidified it still can be adjusted with right efforts – but one who seeks to do so must remember how hard it is to change an already asserted concept in anyone's head."

Kagome sat with her eyes wide open in interest, all previous troubles forgotten. ' _So I guess this is why you can seal even a biggest youkai into a small jar,_ ' she thought. As a priestess, she was taught how to cast such spells, but never really thought about how they worked. Kagome would've liked to ask Tsume more, but she, sadly, had a time limit, so when the dog lady returned to her original topic, Kagome just listened.

"And right now, girl, you are creating this concept in your own head," Tsume poked Kagome's forehead for demonstration before the priestess could even try to jerk away. "Imagining it, learning about it, feeling how it will fit you with your own youki. And after this Tsume is done with you, you are going to have something much more solid before your mind's eye than before."

As Kagome rubbed sore spot on her forehead, Tsume continued.

"Not just your eye, though! Your mind's nose as well, especially since as you could probably guess, girl, the smell is the most important part of dog youkai's good looks. You can gain a great amount of information about a person from just their smell. And with right composition of smells you can show many, many incredible things to anyone who will listen. Alluring opposite sex is only one of them – believe me, girl, while this Tsume's human form considered to be incredibly attractive by any human male, what she truly prides herself upon is the fact that females find it no less aesthetically pleasing. And if this Tsume has any say in it, your youkai form will be just as great! Sadly, your inferior sense of smell, sadly, will make the study much harder, but we will just have to find a way to work around it."

With those words Tsume reached for an ornate box that stood on her writing desk all that time. Before, Kagome didn't took much notice of it, but now she was curious of that could be inside. The dog lady opened the box, showing eight of carefully packed into their separate sections vials. She reached for one and pulled out the cork.

"In those vials are samples of smells of different female dog youkai, collected by this Tsume when she was indulging herself in a craft of perfume making. It was an interesting, if passing, fancy, but she kept her collection of samples intact, and how they will make a great example," the dog lady commented, before bringing the vial to Kagome's nose. "Get a sniff."

She did. The smell was musky and strong – a whole lot of it concentrated in small vial of opaque liquid. I reminded her of Sesshomaru – this one also smelled like a dog. At least when Kagome wasn't transformed – if she tried hard enough then she could remember how his smell felt when all her senses were enhanced to youkai level. The difference was like between looking at something through a waterfall and without it. She could also remember еhose familiar sharp and tart notes in the smell of Sesshomaru's blood that she spilled in the tournament… Now, with her mind clear, Kagome instantly recognized what they reminded her about – yuzu vinegar. ' _I hope his wound is healing well. I never had an opportunity to really look at it. At least there is surely some kind of healer in the palace._ '

"This one belonged to one of this Tsume's handmaidens when she was younger," Tsume said, returning Kagome to reality. The dog lady took the vial away and closed it. "She isn't much in terms of strength, but she is healthy and virile female, attractive to males and pleasing to one's nose. You shall commit to memory all smells this Tsume will show you, so you will be able to understand their common points and features. This is how you will be approaching to understanding of dog youkai's concept of beauty."

"It just smells like dog to me, Tsume-sama," Kagome complained, making Tsume tsk with annoyance, frown and tap on her chin contemplatively.

"Well, this Tsume is aware of charms that could temporarily enhance your sense of smell, but she presumes that using abilities that you have already will be easier and have less unpredictable repercussions," the dog lady finally said few long moments later. "Thankfully, as far as this one is aware thanks to her dearest son, you should be able to fare acceptably enough without them, girl. Use your own abilities and youki to enhance your senses, and don't let any worries stop you, girl! After all, this Tsume has enough power in her aura to stop you if anything decides to happen."

She flared her youki in demonstration, sending creeping chill over Kagome's spine. Tsume's aura was just as strong as Sesshomaru's, though felt much lighter and active. If Sesshomaru's aura was similar to a blanket made of steel, Tsume's was like an acidic cloud.

"Alright," Kagome nodded decisively. She closed her eyes, concentrating and turning her mind's eye within herself. There, two opposing forces that were now both a part of her lied, continuing to struggle weakly. Carefully, Kagome reached beneath her reiki, pulling on a bit of her youki and tugging it to her body, shaping and putting a purpose to it in the process. It listened obediently, rewarding Kagome with an influx of smells, but the rest of her youki grew restless from the action, and the priestess knew that she won't be able to stay in a calm state for long. She opened her eyes and inhaled deeply, as Tsume looked at her with curiosity in her yellow eyes.

Kagome could immediately feel traces of the smell sample in the air, but they were weak in comparison to the smell of Tsume herself. What was more important, she could now tell the difference between the two of them, and was hoping to remember it for future.

"Can you open the rest of the vials now, Tsume-sama?" Kagome said while trying not to move even a little bit, as if even a slightest twitch could be her undoing.

Quickly, the dog youkai uncorked the rest of the small bottles, releasing a whole bouquet of smells into the air, watching over Kagome intently all the while. For another minute Kagome stayed put, breathing deeply and just trying to separate the smells and engrave them into her memory, but it wasn't long before she felt her self-control slipping into abyss of pain.

"Tsume-sama…" she said in strained voice. Thankfully, the dog lady understood her plea without any more prompting, and pushed with her aura. Another moment later, and Kagome's nose returned to its normal state, leaving only memories of intense smells in her mind. She exhaled heavily, frowning and rubbing her badly aching nose. At least the small metamorphose didn’t tired her much.

Kagome frowned even stronger when she saw her fingers come from her face spotted in blood. That never happened before… Thankfully, the amount of blood seemed small, but its presence alone was unsetting.

"This Tsume can't stop being fascinated over your transformations, girl. Sadly, no matter how much it engrosses her to see you slowly self-destruct, this one believes that you will bring more greatness to the world by being alive," the dog youkai said with a shake of her head, closing the perfume vials. "Now, let's get rid of that pungent blood on your face first. This one hopes that you managed to remember the smells, because if not, the exercise will need to be repeated, bloodletting or not. And let's move to things that are easier for a human to understand for the rest of today."

Tsume took her promise to teach Kagome very seriously, and during the rest of the day provided the priestess with a wealth of information not only about the topic of dog youkai standards of beauty, but all other kinds of things as well. Words flowed from her like an endless stream, and Kagome only needed to ask pointing questions from time to time to learn things that she probably wouldn't be able to tear from Sesshomaru in a hundred of years. Her lessons were also very interesting on their own.

The dog lady spent hours lecturing her, telling her of the features that dog youkai found most alluring or pleasing for senses beside smell. All of them, in some way or another, signaled that a dog was a strong survivor, healthy and fertile. In that way, youkai standards of beauty were completely primal, and that put them in sharp contrast with humans'.

For starters, where a scar was a flaw for any human maiden (and for most human men too), both male and female youkai's wore them as signs that they managed to survive some truly terrible injury. It took a lot to scar a youkai, after all – and no scar was possible without some kind of emotional wound lurking behind it, which Tsume referenced to youkai spiritual nature again.

Were there and other things as well that an attractive dog youkai, female one to be specifically, must have in order. Claws and teeth must be of specific length and form; fur is better longer than shorter, and the thicker it is, the better; ears are better lying down than standing upright; snout must be long and elegant… There was a lot.

Tsume only stopped when Kagome felt that her head will soon explode from all that information. It was evening at this point, and both of them were sitting doused in light of ghost-lit lanterns, with pictures of all kinds lying all around the room.

"Oh, This Tsume can't look at you anymore! She will have mercy on you, girl," the dog lady said to Kagome's surprise and rose from the floor, "especially since it's obvious that saying anything of importance to you now will be only a waste of good words. Now, follow after this one. She'd liked to present you with something – hopefully, it will be a good enough respite from this one's teachings for you. And it was long due, after all."

Confused and curious, Kagome obediently followed after Tsume until she was led into a room where a familiar big chest stood – the same one that the priestess saw in the tournament. The realization hit her.

"You want me to take my tournament reward, Tsume-sama?" Kagome asked in slight disbelief. She already had long forgotten about that! Though, after all the pain she went through, she had probably deserved whatever this prize will turn out to be.

"Yes, girl, exactly!" Tsume said, grinning. She lifted the chest's lid, showing that inside of it was filled with labeled boxes of different sizes. "This one will even help you to choose! Now, let's look for what interesting trinkets lie in there…"

With those words Tsume started to pick a box after box and stuck them on the floor. Kagome soon joined her, taking the opportunity to read the labels: 'invisibility charm', 'boots of blinding speed', 'The Elixir'... She wondered what each of those items did. Thankfully for her, Tsume was ready to explain.

"Those on top are all items that were designed with great flaws – ones that render them unusable for most; some of them lied in there for centuries. This charm, for example, makes your body invisible to the sight, but everyone can still see your clothes. And smell or hear you, of course. Boots of blinding speed," Tsume chuckled in amusement, "well, they make a wearer run really fast, but also render him completely blind – not a thing that most will wear comfortably. The Elixir is told to cure any illness, but youkai very rarely fall ill. No, those are all trash, believe this one's word – they were donated for tournament fund because their previous owners didn't cared for them. Best things are on the bottom, girl."

"Well, this elixir seems like a useful thing for me," Kagome noted, looking over another box before putting it to the side. "I could just take it."

"Nonsense! You aren't going to die from some human malady, girl, and this Tsume isn't going to let you have a reward that you will just pass to someone else. That would've been very rude from you… No, there are some real treasures in there, and you will get one!"

"And what did Sesshomaru-sama took as his reward?" the priestess inquired, accepting her fate of getting something really nice and changing topics.

"Ah, as usual – another weapon for his collection. This time it was sword that was named Kanzen," Tsume replied. "It's an incredible in its strangeness thing, a weapon made entirely of glass! It's told to be sharp enough to be able to pierce through all defenses in one strike to cut even enemy's soul itself in half together with his body. Of course, with such power comes a fatal flaw - if one executes the strike less than perfectly, the sword will just shatter instead. And this is a real pity, because not one of its previous owners ever risked bringing it to a fight. This Tsume wonders, though, if her son will be the first one to put it to use."

"He might. It's surely goes well with his name," Kagome agreed. The sword named 'perfection' and a youkai named 'perfect killer' sounded like a match made in heaven. She didn't saw Sesshomaru lugging any new swords around, but he didn't wear his Tenseiga in the palace as well.

After that Tsume continued to explain what items in the boxes were, pointing out on those that held special interest from her standpoint for one reason or another. Finally, after what felt like hours of trying to choose from less than a dozen of items that held worth in them without any more 'fatal flaws', Kagome decided to take what Tsume called 'a haven-gourd'.

On the outside it looked like a normal water gourd, but it held within itself power to make any person or thing (as long as they weren't too big for that) small enough to fit inside of it. And there, as Kagome had an opportunity to see with her eyes, was a real haven – a two-storied house with a little courtyard and even a well that by some magic had clean water in it. It was a great place, even if it was really dusty and requiring repairs from the long lack of use, and the magic of the haven-gourd allowed to be carrying it around anywhere. Kagome thought that if she was going to travel again, with Sesshomaru or not, this item will be very convenient.

***

Next day, Kagome and Tsume were busy designing the priestess' future image. Now that Kagome had a better idea on what was pretty and what wasn't, she was tasked with drawing a picture of what she wanted to look like as dog youkai. Thankfully, Kagome's calligraphy lessons in the past also included some practice in arts, but even so, the task was daunting. Staring on the pristine white sheet of rice paper, Kagome could see only the towering image of Sesshomaru's true form before her eyes.

"Well, girl? Are you planning to make this Tsume wait until you die from old age?" a remark was heard. Deciding that it's something or nothing, Kagome dipped her brush in ink and set to work.

Her hands shook a little and she spend much time trying to make all lines accurate, but in the end Kagome was somewhat proud of the resulting picture, especially with how long ago she painted anything last time. A lean white dog with sharp snout, floppy ears and fluffy tail looked, in Kagome's opinion, very life-like.

"Hm, copying your betters, girl? A way not to fail, but also not to succeed," Tsume commented, looking at the image. "But this picture will be a great soil for seeds of creativity to grow! Now, let's first work on adding some individuality to it…"

It took a couple of hours (mostly because Tsume pushed Kagome into forming her own opinions, while she was ready for almost any idea that the dog lady proposed, since they all were just as great from her lacking standpoint) and a few drafts before the image was finalized. Now the latest cleanly redrawn design featured a lean stature and main body features of the original, but was now also decorated with a great mane of black fur and 'socks' on her paws, drawn in bright red ink.

It took longer than a couple of hours afterwards for them (or, to be more precise, for Tsume – she and Kagome both accepted the fact that the priestess had even less ideas about that matter) to come up with some definite smell. At some point the lesson about perfumes became a lesson in dog language as well, because Tsume couldn't find all necessary words for smell shades that she wanted to describe in Japanese and was pushed to switch to barks; with that came a lecture about dog voices, though Tsume didn't delve too deep in that matter.

The two of them still weren't finished when Tsume decided to make a dinner break and they moved from her study to a dining room. The dog lady seemed to have an infinite well of energy within herself - Kagome still could barely keep up with the youkai, even after she got used to her manner of speaking and showing emotions. Tsume spoke and spoke and almost never stopped, and even though everything she said was interesting, it was still tiring.

"This Tsume just wishes that her dearest son would visit her more often," she complained as they both sat over a table filled with delicious-looking and enticingly-smelling food. Unlike Sesshomaru, Tsume didn't eat her youkai meat _completely_ raw, and also enjoyed side-dish of human food. "Ever since he left the Cloud Castle to walk his own way, he only ever comes over when he needs something, or for the tournaments that his mother hosts. But this is no wonder – after all, this is why this Tsume organizes them in the first place!"

"I don't know Sesshomaru-sama that well, Tsume-sama, but he seems to be quite warm towards you." Kagome noted after chewing over her own piece of food, "I mean, in comparison to everyone else…"

"Ah yes, indeed," Tsume sighed with exaggerated sadness. "He was always like that, disdainful and quiet, even when he was only just a pup. This Tsume heard once how children of noblemen in Toga's castle called her son an 'ice prince' behind his back, and he only smiled in response. If only this one knew from where Sesshomaru-kun got that attitude, because neither his mother, nor his father were even remotely similar!"

"Toga?" Kagome asked, as they both continued to eat slowly over their conversation. "Who is that, Tsume-sama?"

The question did an almost impossible thing – it made the dog lady fall silent for longer than a moment. Then, she laughed aloud.

"Of course, of course! How presumptuous of this Tsume was to think that you will be knowledgeable of his name! Who would've told you, after all? Ah, this is just seems like such an obvious thing to know for this one… After all, there were few who didn't hear of Toga when he was alive, and sometimes this Tsume forgets about how fleeting human's memory can be…" each word left Kagome more and more confused. She was already thinking of repeating the question, when Tsume finally said the answer for it. "Girl, Toga was the name of this one's late husband and Sesshomaru-kun's father."

"Oh," Kagome now felt somewhat stupid. She should've guessed. Though, now that Tsume started to talk about this, the priestess felt really curious. Sesshomaru never spoke much about his father, but Tsume seemed to be glad to reminisce. "Can you tell me more about him, please, Tsume-sama?"

"Well, why not?" Tsume replied with a slight smirk and sipped tea from her cup. "Do ask your questions, girl, and give this Tsume an ample opportunity to remember nice days of faraway past."

"Sesshomaru-sama once told me that his father was a daimyo, though he was a youkai. But I was really wondering why Toga decided to became one, Tsume-sama," Kagome started with a question that over time became even more tormenting to her than one about Toga's death. It just didn't connect with anything she learnt about youkai. "Why he wanted to rule over humans? And why he didn't become a ruler of all Japan then?"

"Ah, you started with most exquisite questions, girl," Tsume chuckled, "This one must admit, that her acquaintance with her late husband began only after he conquered his throne. Do not fret, though, as this Tsume still has enough insight gathered over the decades to answer your inquiry. You see, Toga was always fascinated with humans. He shared with this one that in his youth he spent what was generations for humankind just living among them, often even pretending to be one of them – he was just like that fox! This one guesses that an idea of becoming a human ruler was just a logical conclusion of Toga's interests. He cared about his land greatly, but not like one cares for his home – for my late husband the land was like a favorite pet that he fended for and cherished. This one would even say that a little too much, as it eventually brought his death upon him."

Tsume's eyes were looking somewhere far away as she spoke, and her hands went to stroke a rimmed stone in her necklace. She was speaking without any sadness in her voice, though – only some melancholy and fond nostalgia.

"How did he die?" Kagome prompted the dog lady to continue with another question.

"In battle, as it was usual for youkai – but not without emerging victorious first, mind you! There was a powerful dragon named Ryukotsusei living at the time, walking over the path of violence and conquest. He was a real brute too – when he decided to test Toga's strength, instead of challenging him formally he started to burn villages under his rule indiscriminately, leaving only enough survivors to let his call for battle to reach Toga's ears. Truly barbaric!" Tsume snorted in disdain, distracting herself with food for a moment before continuing.

"This Tsume told Toga then, that it was most probably some sort of trap, and even if it wasn't, not coming to Ryukotsusei's call would've been the best punishment for such abhorrent conduct. But her husband didn't listen. He rushed in with all his recklessness, leaving this one to protect the palace and his second wife, only to return bleeding from gashes so deep that it was only a matter of time before he succumbed to his wounds. And he had just enough of it to write his last will," Tsume lifted up her necklace, making it gleam in candlelight, "and gift this treasure, the Stone of the Netherworld to his first wife - this Tsume. She guesses that he actually had some real affection for her, if he decided to grant her such a powerful thing!"

Kagome leaned closer, looking into the stone's depths. At first glance it looked just like onyx, or some other dark gemstone, a moment later she could see small stars gleaming inside, like she was looking at night sky. It was truly beautiful, and then Tsume pulled it back.

"Looks enchanting, isn't it? One could see the souls of the dead through it, floating through the darkness towards their final judgment," Tsume boasted, smiling proudly. "It's also a deadly weapon in hands of a knowledgeable and skilled person such as this Tsume, and there is no counter for its abilities besides her son's Tenseiga, the sword of the Netherworld."

"It's amazing, Tsume-sama," Kagome wholeheartedly agreed as her eyes shone with awe. Then she remembered some of the dog lady's previous words and latched on them. Tsume was a flourishing spring of knowledge about Sesshomaru's family (and by connection, about him), and the priestess drank from it like a person dying from thirst. "Wait, did you said 'first wife'? Did Toga-san have other wives? One of them was probably Inuyasha's mother, right?"

Tsume nodded regally, stroking the pelt that was lying on her shoulders as if in deep though. Again, her gaze turned into some deep recesses of memory. ' _Hundreds of years back, probably_ ,' Kagome though.

"If you don't know yet, girl, promiscuity is common amongst dog breeds; it is also the reason why our kind was never in good relations with wolves, despite all the things we have in common. Our marriage with Toga was entirely for the sake of our own goals – he needed an heir and a wife to continue to play with his politics, and this Tsume wished for life of luxury and court games. Mind you, girl, this was long ago even for youkai – Cloud Castle at that time was in hands of this one's father and he wasn't keen on sharing it… Well, he came around eventually," Tsume bared her fangs in a cruel semblance of a smile, "but this is another story. As this Tsume was telling before she got distracted, she wasn't even a little bit surprised when her husband showed her his lack of fidelity, especially since she herself had many lovers on the side. But we had our understanding, and it was more than many human nobles were able to say about their spouses, and we made sure that there was no chance of any bastards running around."

Tsume made another pause to drink and chew on some meat. Kagome waited patiently for her to continue.

"Since Toga had no intentions to die, when it became clear that Sesshomaru-kun had no desire to became a daimyo, or to mingle with humans at all if he could help it, this one's late husband allowed him to do whatever he wanted, letting his son to calm his advisors with his existence itself. But, of course, even their eyes, almost blind with fear of death and greed, eventually noticed that Sesshomaru-kun wasn't a promise for stability of the province at all! So they came to Toga with demands to push him into a role of a proper prince, or sire another son. And this Tsume will tell you one thing, girl" she smiled mischievously and hid her mouth behind her sleeve. "At this point, there was no way for _anyone_ to make her son to act against his desires."

Kagome giggled over the image of stubborn, cold Sesshomaru with his father (Kagome imagined him as bulkier version of Sesshomaru in daimyo's robes) shouting demands at him with absolutely zero result. ' _Yes, he is like a rock. You can only flow around, never through._ '

"So, this one's late husband decided to choose a second option instead. This Tsume, while perfectly fertile, doubtfully would be able to give him a child soon enough, just like any other youkai – trying for a kid can take dozens or even hundreds of years for youkai of his lever of power. Knowing this, Toga went to humans, since, just like mice, they breed with a speed that is just as incredible as their lives are short. This Tsume knew Toga's plight, and while she disapproved the whole idea, she decided to comply with her husband's wishes, giving him her approval to take a human princess Izayoi as his second wife, so all her children would be legitimate in human law," Tsume rolled her eyes dramatically. "Even after so many years this one can't understand some of those silly human customs. What difference a marriage gives? Children are children. But, this one digresses."

Tsume tapped her finger on the table, as if catching a runaway thought, before continuing with some solemnity – one that, for a difference, was not exaggerated or purposefully insincere.

"Just as Toga wished, Izayoi soon became heavy with his pup. It's a source of great sadness to this Tsume that her husband could barely live long enough to see his second son be born, and could not raise him properly – and as far as this one is aware, his mother did no good with that job too," Tsume scoffed in disdain. "Her other failures might have been amusing, but this one is just disappointing."

Kagome opened her mouth to offer her condolences, but closed it. If there was one person who didn't need them, it was Tsume – hell, the woman would be offended by them! Now Kagome could see it clearly. Even if it was hiding behind layers of silk and insincere smiles, a heart of true survivor was beating in Tsume's chest, and there was no grief and no regret in her expression.

"But Izayoi was, indeed, so very much entertaining!" Tsume smiled again, even giggling a little. "An ambitious human princess who was raised to rule over men who, in turn, ruled over everyone else. She hated this one even before we first met – just because this Tsume was the first wife and the mother of the heir, no matter how unfitting he was for the role. She only spent few short years at Toga's side, but left quite an impression! Noblemen, those flies, liked her just because she was of the same kind as them, and loved her with passion for her feminine charms. She had many admirers, but of course, only this one's late husband had right to share her bed. And Izayoi somehow managed to make Toga keep fidelity to her, which this Tsume finds a real miracle, considering how much of a, well, _dog_ her late husband was."

Kagome giggled in her fist over a pun, and Tsume supported her with her own amused smile that only grew wider as tale went.

"But this one's favorite part about the princess were her puny attempts to kill her and gain the status of the first wife to herself; it was such fun to thwart them with ease and watch this woman to twist her face! 'Accidents', hired assassins, she tried everything! Once, Izayoi even poisoned this one's tea – can you believe it, girl? She poisoned my tea! Oh, her face when I just drunk the whole cup and asked for a tea blend!"

Tsume laughed aloud second time for the duration of this dinner, this time so hard that she needed to hold at table to not fall from her uncontrolled laughter. Tears of mirth sprung from her eyes. The joke was a bit lost on Kagome, though, but Tsume's laughter was so contagious and sincere (even if the reasons for it were quite morbid) that the priestess felt her lips spread into a grin anyway.

"Oh, how undignified of this one," Tsume said when she finally stopped laughing and wiped her eyes with a sleeve, though they continued to shine with glee. "This Tsume just can't help herself – this memory makes her explode with laughter even after so long! Ah, but she is sure that she had bored you half to death with her stories already, girl. Well, this one's lessons for you today are over – you may leave her company now, if you wish."

Kagome looked over the dinner table – over the time she finished her meal without noticing, while Tsume's been left mostly untouched due to her constant talking – and fiercely shook her head.

"No, Tsume-sama, please tell me more!" she pleaded with the dog lady. "Why Inuyasha didn't became a next daimyo? Do you know why Sesshomaru-sama hates him so much?"

"About the reason for this one's son's hate you would be wiser to ask him himself, girl, since even his mother can't say for sure that she knows what's going on in his heart. Oh, what a tragedy this is, a man who distances himself even from his own mother!" Tsume lamented. "But well, if you like this one's stories so much, let her tell you that one too… After all, this tale is, very conveniently, also a continuation of the one she was sharing with you before."

Kagome looked at Tsume with shining eyes, listening intently. One more story to Sesshomaru's puzzle – and maybe then she will know what Sesshomaru thinks sometimes. Maybe, just maybe, she will understand him a little bit more.

"Toga's death was a tragic event for the whole province, since he was known as a wise and powerful ruler; many spoke of him as of a benevolent spirit, send by gods themselves to let land flourish under his command. This Tsume, she must say, had considered the thought about grasping the reins of power and taking Toga's place, but in human society woman could only rule as a regent or a wife, and this Tsume had no opportunities to be the former, and no wish to be the latter, even though there were many nobles vying for her attention. _Men_ ," Tsume scoffed, instantly reminding Kagome of Haruko with her expression. Sudden resemblance sent a sharp sting of wistfulness in the priestess's heart.

"Inuyasha was officially installed as an heir by Toga's last will, and thanks to that Izayoi became a regent instead – but sadly, at least for her, she never really had the necessary traits to rule on her own. What was even worse is that people in palace became hateful towards the youkai's kind, with this Tsume and her dearest son being the first targets of their scornful attacks. This one blames Izayoi's actions for this, be that assassination attempts or just vile rumors she spread out earlier in attempt to destroy this Tsume's favor with the humans that surrounded her. Not able to bear horrible atmosphere around anymore, this one eventually decided to leave realm of humans together with her son and return to the place of her origins," Tsume pointed down with her hand, "there."

"And what can one say about this?" she continued with a slight shrug of her shoulders. "Izayoi finally managed to reach her goal, but at what cost! She herself became just a tool in others' hands, until demon-haters finally caught up with her too," Tsume snorted and made a sip of her tea. Handmaidens were skimming around, quiet and almost unnoticeable, making sure that both her and Kagome's cups were always full and the tea was hot.

"What about Inuyasha? Didn't you try to help him at all?" Kagome asked in accusing tone before she could stop herself. Her sense of justice this time heavily prevailed over common one, even though Kagome could feel fear gripping her entrails as she spoke, "Even if he isn't your son… Why didn't you helped him became a better person yourself? I am sure you would've succeeded!"

"Girl, no matter what her dear son says, this one is not soulless," she said, staring down at Kagome with narrowed eyes. "She offered Izayoi to come with her, but the human princess refused. This one even tried to find Inuyasha after hearing of Izayoi's untimely death, but he escaped into the wild and disappeared seemingly into nowhere. And do you think that this Tsume is a person who will separate a mother with her child, girl? How outrageous!"

"I am really sorry, Tsume-sama!" Kagome groveled and bowed, now paling visibly. "I was just confused over your previous words!" Not only she managed to offend her host and tutor, but also did that for no real reason! ' _Please, earth, swallow me whole… And then, when I will fall down to the ground below the island, swallow me again!_ '

"Hmph!" Tsume scoffed, but looked to the side. "Well, there is nothing uncommon in humans and youkai becoming victims of their own faulty minds. If this one was unable to forgive some missteps, she'd need to slay everyone she had ever met. This is, honestly, nothing in comparison to that one time when this one's son, just a small pup at the time, only this tall," Tsume showed the height with her hand, raising it high above her head, "decided to dig through her whole garden of rare flowers from the mainland…"

Kagome sat straight again, honing her ears for another story – this time about Sesshomaru's childhood! Sadly, in some aspects he was a real devil – as soon as he was remembered, the dog youkai decided to appear.

"Reminiscing, mother?" Sesshomaru said coldly, as he entered the dining room, interrupting whatever tale Tsume was going to share with Kagome this time. The priestess jerked from surprise and turned towards the doors to see him glaring holes in Tsume's face. "Don't you have anything more useful to do?"

"Oh, Sesshomaru-ku-un," Tsume drawled with a sly grin. "If only this one knew that she only needed to start telling stories about his childhood to make her dearest son to finally spend at least a minute in her presence, she would've done that much sooner!"

' _Was this why Sesshomaru-sama appeared?'_ Kagome asked herself, turning from the son to his mother and back. ' _Did he overhear our conversation? It doesn't seem like he has any other reason to be here; I've barely saw him these days! And I really hope he will not be angry with_ me _this time._ '

"Mother…" Sesshomaru said warningly. His lips pursed, but Tsume didn't show any fear in response; if anything, she looked only more amused.

"Yes, Sesshomaru-kun?" she asked innocently, before continuing with exaggerated sadness, "Did your mother offend you in some way? Ah, this is definitely wasn't her intention! Forgive the lonely woman some indulging into bouts of nostalgia, when the listener is such a grateful one – she just misses presence of her dearest and only son! Last time he visited her was _years_ ago!"

Kagome clearly saw Sesshomaru's brow twitch. She clasped her hands over her mouth not to giggle and felt really glad that both dog youkai were too busy with their strange verbal spar to notice her.

"Is that really so long for you, mother?" Sesshomaru asked, relaxing a bit and leaning his head back a little. "If so, you should have requested this one's presence sooner. Or even came to this Sesshomaru yourself."

"What a brilliant idea!" Tsume perked up. "Yes, yes! It had been decades since this Tsume last time set her foot at the ground below… Oh, maybe this one should leave with you two after she finishes with the girl's lessons!"

Kagome blinked, shocked by perspective, while Sesshomaru threw a long look first at his mother, then at the priestess, before turning to Tsume again.

"You should wait until summer at least, mother," he finally said. Tsume looked at him with questioning look before gasping in realization and then humming contemplatively.

"Right, right, of course… How didn't this Tsume thought about _that_ before? Alright, have your fun without this one, what else can she say?" Tsume shrugged with a look of acceptance, before muttering something about humans and their annoying need for privacy under her nose.

Sesshomaru nodded and left the room without a goodbye, putting an end in the conversation and leaving two females alone to finally finish whatever cold food there was left.

***

Kagome was already lying in her bed, alone again and quickly falling asleep, when she heard door to the room open. Grudgingly opening her sleepy eyes, she looked at whomever done that, only to see another inhabitant of her room (and bed) coming in.

"This Sesshomaru had solved the puzzle box," he said smugly, as if he didn't spend almost a whole week on that, working days and nights, and placed the box he held in his hands on the floor near Kagome. "It's still yours with all its contents. But, priestess, _never_ open it near this Sesshomaru."

Kagome sat up excitedly. A sleep was forgotten for a moment – this mystery waited for her for a whole week! In dim light of stars and moon she could see that the box's lid was a slightest bit ajar.

"Why?" she asked in confusion, picking the box up. "Did you already looked inside, Sesshomaru-sama?"

"Yes," he replied, turning his back to Kagome. "After you are finished, pack the box tight in some cloth."

That was a strange request. Kagome was puzzled, and Sesshomaru's quick retreat from the room didn't make anything clearer. Then, Kagome's eyes turned to the box again. It held all answers within… So of course, Kagome immediately opened it.

A mix of potent, acute and unfamiliar smells immediately assaulted her nose together with a small cloud of some sort of dust, making it itch with terrible power. She barely had time to put the box on the floor before sneezing violently. Kagome couldn't even imagine how Sesshomaru's sensitive nose reacted on something like this. Closing her nose with her hand, Kagome took of the lid from a ghost-lit lantern and went to inspect the puzzle box's contents closer.

It was filled with small silk pouches, each of which was filled to a brim with something. On the bottom of the box a bit more of the dust was also seen – it seemed to have fallen from the pouches. Kagome opened one of them to see some sort of coarsely ground dried leaves. Other had strange small black balls within – seeds? Similar balls, but red, were in another pouch. It was only when she opened a pouch that was filled with several sticks of something actually familiar – cinnamon - that Kagome finally came to realization of what was protected by the puzzle lock.

' _Those are all spices! And I had never ever seen most of them before – they are probably from the mainland! Contents of this box are worth more than their weight in gold… A lot more, actually, considering how light they are,'_ Kagome lifted a box in her hand, feeling for its weight – there wasn't much, even when counting the wood itself. ' _It was probably stolen from some merchant or a noble. And this dust must have been gathered from spices because the box was shaken a lot._ '

Closing the box's lid, Kagome looked at it contemplatively. Should she return it to Touran? Kagome knew that her gift was expensive, but not _so much_ expensive. But considering Sesshomaru's reaction, Touran will definitely refuse to take it back even more vehemently than before. And Kagome surely had no use for spices herself, not that she even knew how to best apply them.

She yawned and decided to think about it later. The box wasn't going anywhere, except for the storage. With that resolution, Kagome wrapped it up in one of her spare yukatas, opened a window to air the room from leftovers of the spice dust and went back to dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yuzu - is a citrus fruit that looks like a round lemon, but tastes like a grapefruit crossed with mandarin orange. It is, though, rarely eaten raw.


	24. The Talk

Two more days of intense studies passed by before Tsume finally concluded that "in surrounding you circumstances, girl, your current level of knowledge is acceptable enough". With that, by Sesshomaru's will, his and Kagome's stay in the Cloud Castle was over. He would've probably taken Kagome with him to fly right into the night, but his mother convinced him to stay until morning.

It was next dawn, and both Kagome and Sesshomaru were almost off, when Tsume came to them with crocodile teary goodbye and a farewell gift.

"Sesshomaru-kun, dearest!" she exclaimed, gliding near her son with graceful gait, as he stood in the middle of the top-level terrace, readying to transform. Kagome was just walking away from him to give him space as Tsume appeared. "Before you leave your mother again, she'd like to gift you with something special."

The dog lady waved her hand, giving a signal to a servant that was walking behind her with a big bundle wrapped in a grey rag, in his hands. He hurriedly walked up to Sesshomaru, just as Kagome did the same; when the servant reached his bundle out with a bow, only to Sesshomaru sniff the air and make no move to accept the gift, Kagome was there to do this in his stead.

The bundle, with whatever it contained, was quite heavy, and for some reason also warm. Kagome looked at it curiously, then at Sesshomaru. He looked back at her with calculating gleam in his eyes.

"Unwrap it, priestess," he said.

A bit puzzled by Sesshomaru's reaction to the mysterious gift, Kagome carefully freed the bundle's contents from their package only to gasp in surprise. She then almost dropped it altogether from shock when Tsume's voice was heard right near her – just like it often happened with Sesshomaru, his mother came near Kagome completely unnoticed.

"This beast had hatched recently in this one's stables – and with two heads, as you can see! This is most unparalleled precedence, and a unique oddity, just like your girl, Sesshomaru-kun," Tsume explained with excitement, "so this one decided that you should have it for your own. It might take long to raise and train it, but in the end you will have a loyal battle steed to ride into battle! This Tsume even put a small sleep spell on it, so it wouldn't disturb your journey. So thoughtful of her, isn't it?"

"This Sesshomaru has no need for a steed," the dog youkai said coldly. Kagome would've even say 'grumbled', if she wasn't so busy with inspecting the small reptilian hatchling in her hands.

It was no bigger than a human baby, with two adorable small heads on two scaly little necks. It had tiny claws on its four reptilian paws, and a thin baby tail. The hatchling also snored very faintly in its sleep, making slight wheezing noises. All in all, Kagome felt like she was melting from sheer cuteness of the creature. When she raised her eyes to Tsume, completely ignoring Sesshomaru, they were sparkling from emotion.

"Tsume-sama, it's so cute! Is it 'he', or 'she'? Does it have a name yet?" Kagome barraged Tsume with questions. The dog lady chuckled in amusement.

"The hatchling is a male, girl, and it wasn't given any names yet," she replied to even more excitement from Kagome's side.

"Sesshomaru-sama, can I name it? Ple-ease?" she pleaded, finally turning to her teacher and his sour face. "You don't want it anyway, after all, so it will make no difference to you what he is called! And I will feed it and clean after it, I promise! You would've made me to do it anyway!"

"And you can't be so heartless as to refuse a gift from your dear mother," Tsume added slyly.

Sesshomaru still stood silently, but now with more resigned look. Kagome decided to take it as an agreement.

"Hm, what would be a great name for him?.. And should it have one name or two, one for each head? Oh, maybe a double name!" she thought aloud, looking down at the hatchling in her arms.

"This Tsume suggests to call the left head 'Burn' and the right one 'Blaze'," the dog lady inserted. "Those beasts are mighty youkai of their own, and this one is quite sure that this one will be able to set its enemies aflame when it grows up."

"Those are great names, Tsume-sama!" Kagome nodded enthusiastically. "But what about 'Shock' and 'Awe'? In case if he will not breathe fire. It's not a normal one, you said it already."

"You finally show some imagination girl – where was it hiding before, this Tsume wonders? But one must explore all possible options before making a decision. So let's storm some ideas and see who comes with the best one! How do you find 'Demolition' and 'Devastation', for example?" Tsume said in reply, hiding a smile behind her sleeve.

From that moment, ideas flew back and forth like energy beams in youkai battle, each possible name longer and stranger than the previous one. Kagome was on the roll, making up name after name together with Tsume, both completely ignoring Sesshomaru's increasingly annoyed aura.

"'Squasher' and 'Smasher'!"

"Be more eloquent, girl, or you will be no competition to this Tsume. 'Bringer of Ruin' and 'Bringer of Decay'!"

"No-o, he is too cute for ruin and decay! Maybe I should just call him… say… 'Sparkling Shiny' and 'Shining Spark'!"

"It will not be cute when it grows up - it will be a monstrous beast! Its name will be feared across all lands! So yes, you should definitely name it 'Bearer of Sunshine and Rainbows'."

"Enough!" Sesshomaru interrupted, suddenly looming over Kagome and the hatchling in her hands. "Their name will be 'Ah'," he pointed at the left head, then at the right one, "and 'Un'."

"That’s… short," Kagome said, a bit dazzled by sudden pull back into reality.

"Oh well, this Tsume would've liked 'Bearer of Sunshine and Delight' better, but what can she do, when it's Sesshomaru-kun's right to name a beast that was gifted to him? Only rejoice, because he finally accepted his mother's present!" Tsume commented, raising her hands to the sky. "Oh, how sad she is to watch her son go away again!"

As per usual, Sesshomaru didn't say any word of goodbyes, instead just walking a dozen of steps away from his lamenting mother before assuming his true form and barking at Kagome to get up. She only barely had enough time to ask Tsume what Ah-Un eats before Sesshomaru jumped into the sky and they both flew away.

***

The chill of winter on the outside of the Cloud Castle's barrier was a harsh and merciless reminder of order of things that Kagome had temporarily left for her short recreation on Tsume's island (though, honestly, only the festival part of it could be truly called such). It signaled a return to previous routine, one that Kagome was already quite accustomed for, even if details were now changed around a little.

There was now another creature living in Sesshomaru's den – Ah-Un. Being only a small hatchling, he spent most of his time sleeping, and the rest of it – eating. Sesshomaru shared with Kagome that this stage of Ah-Un's development will take a year or two, in couple more years he will be able to start his training, but reaching full maturity will take him about two decades. It made Kagome a little sad, because she'd liked to see him grow completely, but she highly doubted that she will stay with Sesshomaru for so long.

Conveniently, Ah-Un didn't need much care, being able to fend for himself quite well for his age – he reminded Kagome of a duckling, especially when he followed after her or Sesshomaru in search of food. He was completely herbivorous, which would've been convenient in warmer seasons, but in winter his diet consisted mostly of grain and hay bought from the city and any piece of cloth and parchment that he managed to reach with his small blunt teeth. Thankfully, he couldn't fly yet and was bad at climbing, so Sesshomaru's library was safe, but hems of Kagome's clothes suffered almost each time she sat down to study. But she forgave the hatchling. He was too cute to not forgive, with his four big and shiny mustard eyes.

Sesshomaru's new sword was, to Kagome's disappointment, put into storage. She asked him why, being careful to not imply anything like Sesshomaru's possible fear of damaging the blade. Of course, Sesshomaru's reasons didn't include any fear – Kagome couldn't imagine him fearing anything.

"This sword," Sesshomaru had said then, unsheathing the sparkling in ghostly light blade of glass, "was not made for battle. In a fight, there is no such thing as a flawless strike. Perfection is something that shatters like this blade when it encounters any opposition."

"What it's for, then?" Kagome had asked. Her gaze had been enthralled to the beautiful image that Sesshomaru had been at that moment - white and red against the background of dark stone walls, with an iridescent sword in his hands, he had been looking more magnificent than ever.

"Things that do not oppose you," Sesshomaru had replied. It was the end of that conversation.

Kagome's learning schedule had also changed. Her free time, the chores that she could share with Sesshomaru (like looking after Ah-Un), even her fencing lessons were reduced in amount in favor of cramming more necessary knowledge in Kagome's head. It was tiring at best, exhausting at worst, but she understood where the urgency came from; if Sesshomaru had actually gave her much choice in the matter of lesson planning, she'd chose to work this hard and even harder anytime.

It was an easy choice to make when Kagome could almost feel gods of death trailing after her soul; a solid, physical presence and a shape of her future death, as real as the constant pain she was in.

Her nosebleed at Tsume's palace was a first sign of it, but it wasn't taken very seriously. Then, after return to Sesshomaru's den, Kagome started to notice small bruises appear on her body in places that weren't hit. For some reason, they didn’t heal as quickly as her other injuries. But she ignored that too, just like the aches that came together with them, believing that she hit something and forgot, before forgetting it altogether.

It was only after her next 'meditation' (in other words, an intense spar with Sesshomaru, whose shoulder had completely healed at that point) that Kagome had realized that something was terribly wrong. And it wasn't just because she felt generally horrible after her mind cleared again, but because, as Sesshomaru helpfully pointed out, there was blood coming out from her nose, ears and eyes; and more mysterious bruises were later found on Kagome's skin too.

She had panicked then. She had just sat there, looking at her own blood that had still been dripping on her hands, feeling as if she was going to die literally tomorrow, if not right then and there. Kagome had certainly felt like dying – there wasn't enough air in her lungs, and her heart had been drumming so fast as if it was going to explode.

"Calm down, priestess," this voice, together with a weight on a hand on her shoulder, had suddenly invaded Kagome's small world. "Breathe deeply and slowly. Follow this Sesshomaru's words. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale."

Kagome had breathed in deeply, obeying the commands instinctively. Then out. Then in. Then out. In a several more minutes she had calmed down enough to raise her face towards Sesshomaru's.

"I am dying, aren't I, Sesshomaru-sama?" she had asked him then, as she had looked at his face that had been more impassive than ever. "I mean, _soon_. I knew that something was wrong even before we left your mother, but I think I was ignoring the signs. I bled then too, but much less. Whatever it is, it's getting worse, and fast. We had only left the island a week ago."

Sesshomaru still hadn't taken his hand away from her when she stopped speaking. His piercing yellow eyes had looked at Kagome with such overpowering intent, even if she wasn't able to say what kind of intent _exactly_ , that she had felt her breath catching in her chest again. A long, heavy moment passed by before Sesshomaru had finally made a step back.

"How foolish was of you," he had said, not looking away from her, "to only now truly realize this. And what you are going to do?"

For a moment, Kagome had faltered. She hadn't known the answer. What _could_ she even possibly do? Her affliction was unique, every possible method of healing it was experimental, and one that she had been in process of trying was _failing_! In that short moment Kagome had felt despair in face of her slowly, but surely encroaching demise.

But then, she had remembered again. Tsume's words, Sesshomaru's words. There had been no visible enemy in sight, but it hadn't meant that she had nothing to fight with. ' _Even when death is imminent, one should not cover, but instead stand upright and challenge the gods of death themselves,_ ' Kagome had repeated in her head as her heart filled with determination again. ' _One who loses all hope before the battle had already lost_.'

"I will continue to study until I deal with this curse, or die trying," Kagome had finally said, furrowing her brows.

Sesshomaru had nodded silently, before turning away. Kagome hadn't taken his silence wrongly then; his true answer, in her opinion, had been her new, even heavier studying schedule. It was him, after all, who took his own free time to teach her.

***

As Kagome found out eventually, Sesshomaru had a specific date in mind for which he prepared her as well as he could. The discovery came together with the last theme of her anatomic studies. It was put in the end, around spring just as promised, because of its complexity, together with other inner organs – the reproductive system. Being a good enough midwife, Kagome knew how hard the task of creating new life was, and how easily something could fail in there, especially on part of the woman, who needed to carry the child to term and then somehow push it through her hipbones. Youkai, though, also didn't have it easy, to Kagome's surprise – they were much stronger and tougher than humans, after all.

Problems with youkai reproduction started with their generally low fertility. As Tsume had already told to Kagome, for a powerful youkai trying for a kid could take centuries. And now Sesshomaru had explained in detail that the more powerful youkai was, the longer he was able to live, but the harder it was for him to conceive. It had been very embarrassing for Kagome to talk with him about such things at first, but some knowledge, sadly, just needed to be told by word of mouth, because everyone found it too obvious to waste ink and paper on it.

Childbearing itself, while had much less possible death involved, also was problematic. Since youkai babies (or pups, kits, cubs, hatchlings, etc.) didn’t have an ability to transform before they were even born, in most cases mother needed to spend almost whole pregnancy in her natural form, or be torn apart by her own child as it grew in her womb. Considering gigantic size of most youkai, Kagome could easily imagine this picture.

Then came youkai's fertility cycles. Contrary to humans, most youkai breeds were only fertile during their 'mating season' that lasted about a couple of weeks each year and usually took time in spring or summer. For every kind of youkai, and sometimes even for a specific person, it was different, and there was no way for a couple to produce children if their mating seasons didn't intersect – a reason why hybrid breeds were very rare. For dog youkai mating season happened around second and third weeks of spring. This was, as Sesshomaru told to Kagome, the date when she will need to try and finally assume whole and stable form of dog youkai, whether she was completely ready for it or not.

Kagome understood that she will need to put that part of youkai biology and instincts on her too, but was confused about the date. Wouldn't she be able to do this any other time of year, after all (even if Kagome had very bloody important reasons to hurry anyway)? Sesshomaru's reply was, quite honestly, disconcerting.

"This Sesshomaru will not let you deceit yourself again, priestess" he had said, pinning Kagome to the ground with his eyes. "Fleeing from this battle will only end in your death."

It was quite an ambiguous answer, but Kagome knew what he had meant with it. Her embarrassment when met with a theme of mating seasons was probably completely obvious even for Ah-Un. For every other instinct there usually was some quick way to check how well Kagome understood it, but if she had denied her youkai form this one and then something went wrong inside of her because of this, there would be no way to know beforehand.

Determination to survive the whole ordeal at any cost, though, didn't made the topic any less uncomfortable for Kagome as she learned more about dog youkai 'heats' and what she will need to somehow endure. During this time, not only were dog instincts shouting at them to copulate with every fertile person of opposite sex around, but balance of youkai's four bodily liquids was also different. This, in turn, made them much more lustful than any other time. And when those two facts were put together, the result was… extremely scandalous from Kagome's point of view.

Then, there was also the circumstance in which Kagome (a female) was currently living in almost constant proximity of Sesshomaru (a youkai male who was going to enter his heat in less than a month). Before, while that might have not been just as true the other way around, Kagome was sure that he wasn't interested in her that way – he expressed more than once before that he wasn't interested in her body, and he told her many times that she smelled offensive (because of her blood). But at the moment in her lessons, when this realization came to her head, Kagome hadn't been so sure about that, and all Haruko's warnings were repeating again and again in her mind.

"Wait, a-are you going to… to…" Kagome had blurted then, stopping to just open and close her mouth in shock like a gaping fish. Instead of being hot from embarrassment, she had been cold from fear.

"Don't stutter. Speak clearly, priestess, what are you so afraid of?" Sesshomaru had asked in response then, his tone strict and brows furrowed a little.

Kagome had then taken a deep breath, trying to calm down, but it came out in a series of wet coughs. It wasn't something new – those had come to Kagome couple of days earlier, making her sure that this time she had a hemorrhage somewhere in her lungs. She could only hope that it will pass soon and will not be replaced with something worse. Her inner wounds were unpredictable, and she only needed one major vessel to pop or one effusion of blood in her brain to die quickly and surely. It was a constant gamble. At that moment, though, her coughs, at least gave Kagome something else to think about for a short time. After she had swallowed a foul taste in her mouth, she had met Sesshomaru's eyes and tried again.

"Will you want to, uh, mate with me?" Kagome had asked. Despite everything that Sesshomaru was, the perspective of positive answer (no matter how impossible it seemed when she was actually thinking logically) was scary. What she had been going to do? She had not been in position to refuse him – nor verbally, nor physically. And she was still a priestess, even if the last time she did anything of her sacred duty was about half a year ago, when she had killed the evil swordsmith!

In response, Sesshomaru had looked at her long and hard, before closing his eyes for another stretching moment.

"Definitely," he finally replied, looking at her again. Then, he had inclined his head to a side a little. "Is that so scary to you?"

This time, Kagome hadn't been able to meet his eyes. Her emotions had been a complete mess. She had been still afraid, but at the same time part of her had been flattered to hear that Sesshomaru had admitted that he _had_ seen her attractive, even if just a smallest bit. But most prominent had been confusion – why? Kagome knew for sure that there was nothing even remotely alluring from youkai standpoint in her now. She had been weak from her curse, average human woman, and there had been no chance in her state, that she would be able to give birth to a child even if she had actually been fertile. Even her holy powers had only been a source of problems at this point – any tug at them made Kagome's reiki and youki clash again, resulting in more hemorrhaging.

"I had asked you a question, priestess," Sesshomaru had repeated, pulling Kagome from her musings. She had clasped her hands in nervous gesture, sorting words in her head.

"I am afraid that you will make me have," Kagome had gulped, and pushed the next word out of her throat forcefully, "sex with you, even though I don't want to."

"This Sesshomaru does not take pleasure in lying with an unwilling partner," had been his reply, as cold and even as ever.

Only then Kagome had finally felt her fear ebbing away. Sesshomaru's answer had been a source of great relief. While there hadn't really been anything stopping him from forcing Kagome if he had wanted to besides her own wishes (and he had ignored those previously on more than one occasion, even if they were much less serious), Kagome knew Sesshomaru and believed that there had also been nothing that could push him into something he didn't want. Not even his own body and instincts.

"Besides," Sesshomaru had suddenly added as an afterthought, "why would you reject this Sesshomaru's advances? You are attracted to him."

' _W-what?_ ' Kagome shock had been so strong, that even her thoughts had stuttered, ' _How could he be so sure? I mean… Ugh, even if he is right… He is either too perceptive, or too arrogant! No, actually, I think it's both!_ '

"So what?!" she blurted out as her surprise changed into indignation that overpowered even her embarrassment. "I can't help it, you… You know you are handsome, Sesshomaru, you made it so on purpose! And you sleep without any clothes whatsoever, every single night!" Kagome had closed her face with her hands in despair, her long-lived frustrations now finally spilling out freely. "I am not a piece of rock to be so close with you all the time and not feel anything! That doesn't automatically mean that I will sleep with you, you beautiful pompous jerk!"

As Kagome had taken in a deep breath, another wet cough had swallowed possible continuation of her tirade. When Kagome had finally regained control over her throat and had looked straight again, her eyes had been met with Sesshomaru's amused gaze. It had been surprising – Kagome had expected him to be angry at this point. She had called him a pompous jerk, after all. ' _And beautiful. And handsome. Oh gods_.'

"Why?" the only word he had said in response was.

' _Is he serious?_ ' Kagome had thought, furrowing her brows in steaming anger. But nothing in Sesshomaru's expression had been showing even a hint of mockery – only what seemed to be an honest curiosity over the possible answer. At that moment Kagome had a growing suspicion that they both were missing some huge cultural difference.

"Why should I? You are not my husband, nor will you ever be one! And even more, you are youkai, and I am a human and a priestess!" Kagome had exclaimed, still angry, but less now.

Sesshomaru had blinked slowly then, returning to his usual cold exterior. He had fell silent again for a few moments, but Kagome had waited patiently, curious for his answer.

"Foolish human traditions. It will be better for you to forget them entirely," Sesshomaru had said then, suddenly stepping up closer. He had been only a hand length away now. "Clinging futilely for what you once were will only end badly for you… Kagome."

There had been no emotion in his voice or his eyes besides their usual impassivity, but Sesshomaru's words still took Kagome's breath away together with everything else: her frustrations, her embarrassment, her fears. And when Sesshomaru had raised his elegant palm to brush his clawed fingers over Kagome's cheek, she had been sure that her heart just stopped. It had been a beautiful moment.

Then, Sesshomaru had stepped back and went away, the rest of the lesson still left unfinished. Kagome couldn't care less – she had a whole lot of other things lot to think about.

***

Even another dozen of days since that encounter, Kagome was still full of hesitancy. Since that uncomfortable dialogue, Sesshomaru acted as usual, except for the long strange looks that she had noticed him throwing at her from time to time, and the fact that he continued to actually call her by name. His casualness helped Kagome to sort her feelings out, but she could feel time seeping through her fingers. Small, but constant losses of blood made her weaken more and more with every day despite the sturdiness of her cursed body, but for now, she persevered through her pain. She just hoped that her tenacity will last long enough.

In comparison to that, Kagome's feelings seemed to be a lesser problem. They, at least, weren't going to slowly kill her. They just really distracted her from sleep, at least until Kagome had sorted them out somewhat. Then it just came to a standing before a finalized decision and gathering bravery to do a final step towards it.

It all started from thinking over Sesshomaru's words, trying to understand not just their meanings, but what was going on in his head at that time. It was a shock for Kagome to be called by name from him. She was unsure of what it could mean, but somehow it felt like Sesshomaru was making a point of some sort, a declaration. There was intent in the way he spoke the short word 'Kagome', each time.

Then, there was a fact that he stated that she was, in some way or form, desirable. At first, it made Kagome hesitant again to disrobe in his presence, but after Sesshomaru's lack of any reaction to her or her actions, Kagome decided that this was just stupid. It's not like _he_ had stopped to disrobe in her presence when he had first noticed _her_ attraction, one that she was happily putting into the furthest reaches of her mind for a long time until that talk and even now.

So Kagome just began to wonder why, again. No matter how hard she thought, she couldn't find a trait in herself that would've made her even a bit alluring for a dog youkai like Sesshomaru… But in a process of her musings, Kagome came to a conclusion that maybe, just maybe, if there was nothing for a bodily attraction, there was an emotional one? It seemed even more impossible, and yet logic pointed right there. It was another thing that felt better when buried deep under studies and other thoughts.

And of course, there were Sesshomaru's last words to her then. Those Kagome understood much better. She knew that anything could go wrong if even a part of her will still deny parts of her second form when she will try to assume it, especially in her particular case. And she wanted to deny herself her future 'heats' pretty badly. Sooner or later they would lead, inevitably, to sex, and that was not something that created much enthusiasm.

And Sesshomaru, basically, was telling her to forget whatever was making her fear and deny those instincts. Kagome could admit that it weren't really traditions that were making her reluctant, but her own discomfort about the topic of sex. Traditions were just a convenient cover. If Kagome had really cared for traditions, she would've, instead of first aid, given a mercy blow to Sesshomaru when she had first met him. Who knows how her life would’ve turned out then? Would she be dead for now, or still be the guardian of Shikon no Tama? It was pointless to think about that – Kagome wouldn't have done that anyway. Especially when she learned more about Sesshomaru. No, she had better things to muse about.

If she hadn't been a priestess, she would've been forced to deal with her virginal fear sooner or later, when she would eventually marry. It wasn't so different from Kagome's situation now. But she _was_ a priestess, after all. Accepting even what was only a possibility of losing her purity was like a rejecting a piece of herself. To put away a part of her own nature so that she could better accept something else in its place – it seemed to be so hard to do, and should she even? It was unfair decision to make. Youkai weren't doing things like that when they assumed human forms. No, they did it other, and from Kagome's standpoint – easier - way around. Instead of shedding civilities from themselves, they put them on. If they even did, because civilities weren't part of human bodies or spirits. They were just a result of workings of their minds. Completely optional.

It was after that thought that a realization came to Kagome about what Sesshomaru had meant then, and what he had meant each time he had repeated her name later. Yes, mind… Mind was the core that bended matter over its will. Kagome had lost her duty over Shikon no Tama when it dissolved in her body. Her priesthood was only in her education now that she was unable to use her reiki without repercussions. If she forgot them all, together with the traditions and customs of society where she was born, what was going to be left?

Kagome. She will be there still with her will to be whatever she wanted to.

With that, a decision was made. Her fears needed to go, one way or another. And there was no one else around to help with that but Sesshomaru, so Kagome was going to go and ask him for help. She had no other options for her in her limited time. Finding courage to act on that decision, though, was another matter. A nature of her request was embarrassing and scary, even without taking Sesshomaru himself into account.

***

On eleventh day since what Kagome was mentally dubbing as 'the Talk' (because, honestly, it _was_ about birds and bees…) she had finally found her courage. It was a good day in a line of generally bad days. Kagome slept well the previous night, woke up without any new inner injuries and her old one (a splatter of bruises over her calves) almost healed. Ah-Un was too busy with his hay to chew on her clothes, and there was no reason to go outside of the den through the thawed waterfall. Without a reiki barrier to protect her from water, she needed to use a bulky and heavy umbrella instead when going out of den, and she still always ended up somewhat wet.

So deciding that there will be no better time, when Sesshomaru gave Kagome a break over studies for lunch, instead of going to her kitchen and making herself something to chew on, she took a deep breath and hurriedly let it out together with her request before he walked away again.

"Uh, Sesshomaru-sama, can I ask you something?" she uttered, trying to not stutter and blush like a maiden at her wedding night. Kagome didn’t want Sesshomaru to have another reason to not think much about her.

He turned to her with a questioning look in response, prompting her to continue without words. Not able to continue to speak and meet his eyes at the same time, Kagome looked at her hands, trying to find the best words for what she was asking from her teacher.

"I know I should be more comfortable with the mating seasons and stuff… and that I weren't doing so well with that… but I need to admit to you, Sesshomaru-sama, that it wasn't because of what I had said before. And I apologize for calling you a jerk then. You aren't one. Except maybe sometimes," feeling her determination to fly away with every rambled out word, Kagome grew quieter and quieter, until her voice became almost a whisper, stuttering and unsure. "I am afraid of going in heat because I am afraid of, uh, sex. C-can you help me with it?"

For a stretching moment Sesshomaru didn’t say anything. Then, Kagome saw from a corner of her eye that he made a step closer.

"Are you a virgin, Kagome?" he asked. The question made Kagome's eyes snap to his in surprise. Then it hit her.

' _Right, youkai. Touran-san also had no idea that priestesses are supposed to be pure. And Sesshomaru-sama is not one to mingle with humans a lot,_ ' she realized. Well, at least something became a bit clearer.

"Yes. All priestesses are supposed to be," she clarified, lowering her eyes again and waiting for Sesshomaru's response. What he was going to do?

"This Sesshomaru had suspected that," he had said.

Another long pause stretched. When Kagome gathered enough courage to glance at his face, she saw him thinking hard about something.

"When this Sesshomaru had been young and entering his first heat, he also was afraid," he had finally said, sounding to be almost nostalgic, "seeing that, his mother brought him to an experienced geisha, who taught him about pleasures of flesh that only human form is able to give. The lesson was most enjoyable… If you wish, Kagome, one can be arranged for you too, by this Sesshomaru or someone else."

A blush that was spreading over her cheeks was completely expected for Kagome, but a touched fluttering of her heart was not. Sesshomaru showed his surprisingly considerate side again, and together with it, what was much rarer, a piece of him past. Kagome felt her lips stretching into a wobbly smile despite all other emotions in her head.

"I… really don't want to trouble you, Sesshomaru-sama," she said, a bit surer of herself now, than at the start of this conversation, and averted her eyes again, "but I don't know anyone else for this. And can't imagine anyone better…"

"There are male courtesans amongst youkai," Sesshomaru said, "Finding one willing to teach you would be only a matter of payment, if that's your wish. But this Sesshomaru would've preferred to do it himself."

This time, Kagome couldn't keep that question from her lips. It slipped by so quickly that she almost missed it herself.

"Why?"

"This one would not trust anyone else with such a delicate task. It would also be a pleasure," was Sesshomaru's immediate reply. Despite the topic, he sounded calm. Casual, even - as much as he ever did.

"But… why?" Kagome asked again, almost pleading the youkai to spare her this choking confusion. "Do you really find me attractive? Why?"

Before answering, Sesshomaru reached with his hand to her chin, pulling it up. When Kagome, following the youkai's silent request, slowly raised her eyes to his, there was a soft gleam in them, as if two candles were glowing behind his slit pupils.

"Yes," the first word of his answer was. There was no wavering in it, shame or embarrassment. And he still didn’t take his hand away from Kagome's chin. "You have many qualities that appeal to this Sesshomaru."

Kagome's heart did that fluttering again. Nor that, though, nor a hand on her chin, prevented her from pulling a full answer out of her teacher.

"What are those, Sesshomaru-sama?"

"Your tenacity, your willpower, your strength, a potential that you try so hard to reach," he listed, moving his palm to Kagome's cheek. "You would not be more unique even if you were born with two heads."

The touch of Sesshomaru's warm fingers made Kagome's skin tingle. The weight of his gaze made her wish to reach up to him too. And there was nothing stopping her, so she did.

"Then teach me, please, Sesshomaru-sama," she had whispered almost in trance. Nothing was scary at this moment.

"Gladly, Kagome."


	25. Dogs in heat

"Gladly, Kagome."

Immediately after he spoke these words, Sesshomaru leaned in, so close that Kagome could feel his hot breath on her ear. The hand that was touching his smooth cheek fell to his silk-clad shoulder, while another rose to his chest on its own.

"There is nothing to be afraid of," Sesshomaru whispered. His lips slightly brushed her earlobe as he spoke, making her shiver pleasantly.

His hand fell from her cheek, trailing across her skin and landing on her shoulder. Another one rested on Kagome's hip, stroking it gently through her yukata. She stood still under those slow ministrations, not knowing what to do, or feel. Everything was new. No gossiping session with other women could prepare her for this.

Sesshomaru, thankfully, didn't wait for her reaction. His lips moved from Kagome's ear and down, trailing soft kisses on their way. When he reached a collar of her yukata, Sesshomaru pulled it down together with all layers beneath, exposing Kagome's collarbones. She inhaled sharply when he started to lick, suck and nibble on them and her neck with more fervor, as his hands continued to fondle and caress other parts of her body.

Kagome felt hotter and hotter under his actions, her mind clouding. Before noticing it, she started to pant slightly, as if out of air. She felt as if she was running, except she stood still, assaulted by strange novel sensations. Her fingers clenched on Sesshomaru's clothes and she closed her eyes instinctively. What was he doing to her? Whatever it was, it felt great.

Suddenly, with one last kiss at her neck, Sesshomaru made a step away from her, and then another one, despite her own clinging hands. Without his touch on her, Kagome felt cold and exposed. She wanted more of his caresses, more of him. ' _Why did he stop?_ '

"Undress," he said, starting to untie his own sash. Embarrassed by her stupidity, Kagome hurried to fumble with her own clothes.

"Will we do it right there?" she asked, looking around. They were right where they sat to study – how will Kagome be able to look at this place with the same eyes later? Not that there were other options, or better places – it was a main room of Sesshomaru's den, where every place was as good as any to lie down, naked or not. Even Ah-Un was conveniently asleep in his small corral in the corner with unfinished stack of hay, not in position to interrupt anything.

"Where else?" Sesshomaru's laconic response was as he shed his garb and threw away his pelt. There was nothing now to shield his from Kagome's eyes, and she fought with herself over raising them or continuing to look at his feet. Finally, her gaze went up just as the last of her layers went down.

The rest of Sesshomaru's body was just as much a piece of sculpted perfection as his face. Chiseled, perfectly formed muscle laid down under moon-white skin. Red stripes that trailed on his cheeks and wrists were on the other parts of his body as well, instantly attracting attention with their bright color. Three were on each of Sesshomaru's ankles, and four more were drawn symmetrically on his hipbones, their sharp ends pointing (completely on purpose, she was sure) right to his manhood. The perverted design made Kagome blush harder than before. There were no stripes on such places in his real form!

And, oh gods, his manhood. Kagome was not familiar with sizes enough to tell if it was big or small. It wasn't even important at that moment. It was just there, standing upright like a strange toadstool. It was, though, surprisingly not gross – just really strange, and maybe even a bit funny (when Kagome was not thinking about where it was going to go eventually). Perhaps that was only because it seemed to be as well-designed as every other part of Sesshomaru, Kagome didn’t know.

Her staring was cut short by Sesshomaru's approach. It made Kagome remember that she was also naked now, even though that didn't embarrassed her anymore, and that they both were in a middle of something. What was going to be a next step? Was it going to be as good as the previous one? When Sesshomaru's clawed palms sat on her naked skin, Kagome felt assured that it will. She was not disappointed.

At first, he continued in the same way as before, but even those small actions felt twice as intense with a heat of Sesshomaru's skin on Kagome's own, his hands and lips doing amazing things with her body and his manhood… Well, she tried to keep her thoughts on something else.

It became very easy to do when Sesshomaru's hands travelled from her sides and hips to her breasts. A thumb brushed over her nipple, and Kagome couldn't help but moan slightly over the sensation that shot through her. When Sesshomaru repeated it again and again, with one nipple and another, Kagome trembled and writhed in his hands, clenching her fingers on his shoulders and biting hard on her lip. Even Sesshomaru's smirk didn't diminish her ecstasy.

Then, one of his hands travelled lower down her stomach, leaving a trail of goosebumps on Kagome's skin, and nestled itself on curls of her pubic hair. At this point, instead of pulling away, Kagome instead pushed her hips towards it. She didn't knew why or what, but there was something inside of her now, some itch that needed to be scratched, _badly_ , and her body seemed to think that this action would help Kagome in doing it.

Then Sesshomaru moved his fingers between folds of her flesh, sending a tingling spark to her brain that was strong enough to wipe all of Kagome's thoughts again. He didn’t stop on that, no – his fingers moved again and again rhythmically with quiet wet sounds, and each movement multiplied the sensations. What felt like a very short time later, Kagome was sure that she would just burst from them all. She felt almost like as if she was going to sneeze violently… but not with her nose.

When that finally happened, Kagome's knees refused to keep her weight, instead giving in on her. If not for Sesshomaru's strong hands that kept her upright, she'd just crumbled right there and then. It would've been a happy crumble, though. Kagome knew that this surely wasn't the whole process, but if the rest was at least a bit as good as that, then there indeed there was nothing to be afraid of. She felt astonishingly good. Even her constant pain seemed to ebb away for a moment.

"This was just a prelude," Sesshomaru said, as he lowered Kagome down on soft furs and sat between her spread legs. The open position was embarrassing enough to make her avert her eyes. "Now, this Sesshomaru needs you to do something."

With those words he put his big palm, with fingers still wet from her juices (and, oh gods, there were so much of them), on Kagome's right hand. He pulled on it, guiding it until it reached the same place that gave her so much pleasure before, making her blush violently.

"This Sesshomaru claws are too sharp to do this safely," the youkai explained as his fingers continued to move Kagome's, "Another time, they could be filled down. For now, just use your own fingers."

He showed her how exactly. Following his command, Kagome pushed two of her fingers right inside of the opening that he directed her to, raising her hips up instinctively at the same time. Her digits slipped in easily with the help of all the slimy liquid that was around, and Kagome could feel her own muscle walls clench on them on reflex. It felt… a bit nice. Without a next hint, she pushed her fingers out, then in again. Yes, nice. Not as nice as what Sesshomaru was doing before, but nice. She continued to do it with increasing enthusiasm, her other hand moving to pinch at nipple because why not? At this point, Kagome felt like indulging herself. It was a feast of sensations, gifted to her freely, and after trying out a couple of dishes only to be blown away with their magnificence, Kagome wanted to engorge herself on everything. She wanted… more.

Sesshomaru's hand moved away from hers. Following after it with her eyes, Kagome saw it landing on his manhood, gripping it in tight grasp. That image made Kagome's hands still in their movements for a moment. She suddenly felt that she was acting unfair towards Sesshomaru. She didn't do anything to him like he done to her… Not that she knew what to do. But before Sesshomaru's next words wiped out those thoughts from Kagome's head, she swore to herself to make it up for him later in some way.

"The next step is usually painful for virgins," Sesshomaru said, as his hand moved up and down his shaft. Even though his face was cool and his voice was even, Kagome could see that he was also affected by his slight pants and a bright gleam in his eyes, "but this one doubts that this will be a problem for you."

With those words he loomed over her, planting his free hand to the side of Kagome's head and positioning his manhood with another. Looking into his eyes, she slowly moved her fingers away from the place where it should go, feeling her heart beat wildly in her chest. This was going to be it. No more purity for her and no more fears. She reached her hands to Sesshomaru's shoulders, suddenly anxious for his support. He was solid and unshaking like a rock, and gripping on him, Kagome felt much calmer.

Then, Sesshomaru moved, pushing inside her. Only a little bit at first, then back and further in and again and again until Kagome felt him hitting a wall deep within her with each thrust. She cried out. Each movement was painful, yes, stretching her much more than her two thin fingers ever could, but that slight soreness was nothing in comparison to her past experiences. Other sensations, though, were overwhelming. It was completely different, but just as intense, set of feelings than before, and it spread through her, sending tingles through her chest and making her legs weak.

And Sesshomaru seemed to fare just as good. His face wasn't a blank slate now. His brows were furrowed as if in strain, there were actual drops of sweat sliding down his skin, and he grunted quietly with each slow, but forceful movement inside of Kagome. It was enthralling to see him like that, so unrestrained in comparison to his usual cold mask. His silver hair fell down his face, long strands creating a curtain around his and Kagome's head. It felt so intimate, that before she could even think about what she was doing, she had reached with her hands and pulled Sesshomaru down into a kiss.

It was a short one, almost a peck, broken short by unending movements of their bodies. But then Sesshomaru went down himself for a repeat, and the next one was much longer and wetter. When Kagome's lips opened down in moan, his long tongue, to her surprise, moved inside of her mouth. It was such a strange thing to do, and yet, it was a pleasant one too, and she soon got an idea on how to respond in equal measure. The flexibility and reach of her tongue that were necessary to reach the tip of her nose with it turned out to be surprisingly useful here.

Their tongue-kisses didn't last for long, though. Soon, Kagome felt tension in her body rise too high to do anything but writhe, moan, pant, and plead wordlessly for something to come and end this sweet torture. In response, Sesshomaru moved faster, angled his hips a bit differently, and just short time later Kagome had felt herself exploding again, second time for today. As her body convulsed haphazardly, she looked up to Sesshomaru to see his eyes bleeding red and fangs elongating in his half-open mouth. His movements were frantic now, and if he had felt like Kagome herself was, she was not surprised that he was losing his control over his human form.

It was only few hard, rushed thrusts after Kagome's shaking stopped that Sesshomaru had spilled his seed inside of her and pulled out, before lying down on his back near her.

"Thank you," Kagome said a bit breathlessly, staring at the dark roof of the den. She felt spent, but at the same time sated. And a bit hungry – it was supposed to be her lunch now. "It really _was_ great."

Sesshomaru snorted, but without usual malice or disdain. When Kagome turned her head to look at him, he seemed to be more relaxed than ever.

"Did you doubt this Sesshomaru's word?" he asked. Kagome hummed negatively.

"No, I just… I don't know," Kagome admitted. "I heard many bad things about, uh, _this_ before. Does… does it feel as good when you do it in your true form?"

She had wanted to say 'sex'! Sadly, it seemed that even if the act itself was clear and not at all scary now that there was a light shed on it, talking about it without embarrassment was another thing completely. Any other doubts that might have lingered inside of her were now blown out, leaving just small traces, and Kagome felt even a bit proud for herself for her ability to reach the decision that she had.

"Most of the humans waste capabilities of their bodies in that regard with their narrow-mindedness. In comparison, mating in my true form not unpleasant, but doesn't bring even a half of the same pleasure."

He rose up with a barely-audible sigh, before picking up his clothes and his pelt. It gave Kagome an opportunity to again have a look at the great view that his sculpted body provided as she lied comfortably on the floor. Did she also need to get up? She didn't want to. She felt better than she ever did since the tournament.

" _If you will lie there much longer, your food time will end,_ " Sesshomaru barked at her, returning Kagome back to the grim reality of her routine, which today consisted of language lessons.

" _Yes, One Who Does Not Leave a Chance to his Prey!_ " Kagome yapped back with a smile and a slight giggle, before rising up. The name, ridiculously long even to bark, not to mention say in Japanese, always gave her this reaction, especially when Kagome could just see Tsume's paws all over it.

Sesshomaru's full name was just another curious and fun fact that Kagome had learned during the course of her dog youkai studies. Almost every youkai, as it turned out, first had a name on the language of their species, and only then a Japanese second name, one that usually was a rough and shortened translation of their original one.

Toga and Tsume, whose full names Kagome had also learned during her lessons, had much shorter names: 'One Who Fights With his Fangs' and 'One With the Sharpest Claws' respectively. Those, in turn, were usually shortened to just a 'Fang' and a 'Claw', which then were translated to make their Japanese names. But Sesshomaru didn't share a shortened version of his full name, and reacted to any of Kagome's attempts to make up one with angry snarls. To Kagome herself he referred as just 'the priestess', at least until The Talk – after that he avoided to reference her in dog speak completely, which was easy to do with only two of them and Ah-Un present.

All of that, though, wasn't in Kagome's thoughts at that moment, as she was cleaning herself up in a hurry to have her lunch. No, far from it.

***

Despite the very, very notable fact that Kagome had sex with Sesshomaru (sometimes she could barely believe it looking at his completely unaffected stature), life went on, with its good and bad times. The event may have changed her perspective on intimacy greatly, but Kagome accepted that whether or not it was a one-time occurrence, she was not in position to indulge herself in something so laborious without a real need. It was not like she was in the mood for it anyway, with her health declining steadily.

Kagome's condition only worsened from that day on. She could have tried to make her transformation before mating season, if not for the fact that her studies weren't yet completed – anything to just get better. She had finally finished with her anatomical lessons, but there was still a lot of language ones to cram in. Sore throat after all her barks and growls became almost constant.

It was only few days before the beginning of dog mating season, when Kagome woke up and, after a feeble attempt to sit up, realized that she was too weak to do even that. Her body was sore all over – so much that she couldn't tell what exactly was wrong with her this time - her head was dizzy, and her mouth was filled with the foul taste of her blood.

Kagome wasn't surprised when she noticed Sesshomaru watching her from his sitting place few steps away. He slept much less lately, looking over her at nights, waking her up to staunch her bleeding when he could and clean up the blood when it spilled outside. If not for him, Kagome would've probably chocked on it a week ago, when her nose had started to bleed when she had been sleeping on her back. That night Kagome was once again reminded of how little was necessary for a person to die, and that every day could be her last one.

As she remembered the occurrence, putting herself even deeper into melancholy, Sesshomaru rose from his place and went away into some of the inner caves, only to return a short while later with a cup that he then brought to Kagome's lips. It was full of water, and she drank it gratefully, washing down blood from her mouth.

"Rest for today," Sesshomaru said. When he pulled back again, his eyebrows were furrowed a little.

"Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama," Kagome tried to pull a smile on her lips, but it was weak attempt at best. She closed her eyes, hoping to regain some of her strength with more sleep, as she felt Sesshomaru's presence moving away silently.

She couldn't sleep, though – stabs of tugging pain in her innards pulled her out of her doze each time it went too deep – and it wasn't too long before she started to just stare into the cave ceiling, thinking about everything and nothing. Most of it was depressing, but happy thoughts seemed like impossibility at that moment.

Kagome was pulled from her musings when Sesshomaru returned, with a tray in his hands full of food and Ah-Un trailing behind with a hopeful expression on his muzzles, whining softly from time to time. She tried to prop herself up on her elbows at least, but they failed under her, making her plop down with a groan. Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at this attempt.

"Don't move," she was told in a stern voice as the dog youkai deposited the tray on a small dining table and moved it near her. Sighing, Kagome resigned herself to his care, knowing that he will do whatever he deems necessary to keep her alive.

It was embarrassing when Sesshomaru propped her up on pillows to feed her piece by piece of dried apples, nuts, cheese, rice porridge and fresh youkai meat while Ah-Un crunched on contents of the sack of grain that was brought to him. It was even more embarrassing, though, when he needed to help her to use the bucked that served as her chamber pot, and then empty it out himself.

"We will continue with your lessons later today," Sesshomaru stated when he deemed Kagome sufficiently nourished. She felt very full, almost engorged, and just as touched by his care, no matter how impassive his face was, or how cold his voice. Actions were the thing that spoke loudest, after all, especially with him.

"Wait, Sesshomaru-sama," Kagome called out as he turned to walk away with the empty tray. "Can you please bring me a grey pouch that lies near the spice box? "

He nodded, and soon later it, together with more grain to keep Ah-Un happy, was deposited near Kagome. As he walked away from her again, she thanked him one more time, before turning her attention to the pouch that was lying near her.

Cuteness of Ah-Un was a welcomed reprieve from Kagome's grim thoughts as she looked through mementos there were lying within. There wasn't much, but they were precious to her, just like the memories that were chained to those items.

There was a protective charm from her grandfather, old and weathered, that was supposed to keep her safe. Any reiki that was in there had went away long time ago but Kagome still kept it as a reminder of her old man. After that Kagome produced another memento from the pouch – a rag doll with a bunch of dark string imitating hair on its head, dressed into what could be a monk's robe. Sota, her younger brother, made it for her before she left with Shikon no Tama, declaring that’s this is how he will look after finishing his own training.

Another precious bauble was a small wooden comb with half of its teeth missing. It was a gift from her father when she was only a little girl – a last one Kagome had ever got from him before he died in a bandit attack. A pair of carved chopsticks from her mother that Kagome could never bring herself to actually use – they were way too pretty in her opinion for that. Gods, how she had missed her family now. She hadn’t seen any of them for years.

There was no memento from Haruko, but that didn't stopped Kagome from remembering her former apprentice too. It was ironic, in her opinion, that the outspoken girl that could always, at most, perform holy rites without any actual power behind them, was now more a priestess than Kagome herself. If only she could actually go and visit her younger friend…

Ah-Un finally decided that he was, for a change, full, and crawled on Kagome's knees to sleep in warmth. The hatchling was now a finger phalanx taller at the withers that when he was gifted to Sesshomaru – Kagome had actually kept measures. She petted him tenderly, feeling aches of her heart lessening a little from this small action. But quiet sadness was still feeling her chest to the brim.

"Sesshomaru-sama," she suddenly spoke. The youkai in question stopped what he was doing (cleaning and oiling one of his many weapons) to look at her questioningly. "If I die here, will you, please, tell Haruko-chan and my family what had happened to me? They live in Higurashi shine."

"You will tell them yourself," Sesshomaru's cryptic answer was. It left Kagome confused – how could she tell them if she was _dead_? Or did he mean that she was not going to die? It wasn't that reassuring today. Then, he looked at her with disapproval. "If you have energy for such notions, then you had rested enough. Your lessons shall resume now."

Well, while Kagome was not so sure that her cloudy head was up to that, even if she didn't need to actually stand up and do anything active, but she admitted that Sesshomaru was right in that it was better than just be sad and mope around.

***

When the day finally came, Kagome wouldn't even have noticed that it did if not for Sesshomaru's announcement one morning. There was nothing in his poise or actions to indicate that he was in heat. If it was all a mask, then it was perfect. Kagome wished she could control herself just as well – she was trembling all over from her nerves and anticipation after hearing those words. She really wished to be just done with it all already, but fear of failure was keeping her from staying calm.

"Am I ready?" she asked in response. Sesshomaru accessed her with his sharp eyes.

"Acceptably so," he concluded, inclining his head a little. "Prepare yourself, stop shaking, and you might try."

Kagome did as he said. It took some time, two cups of tea and lot of pats on Ah-Un's heads for her to calm down her nerves, but eventually the anxiety was replaced with a steady determination. Then, it was time.

She and Sesshomaru had moved outside of the den for the task to have more space. Lately, Kagome rarely ventured there, and when rays of the spring sun fell on her face she was realized how much she had missed that with her being such a recluse lately. Maybe at least some of her weakness was just because of lack of fresh air, though soreness and aches in her body reminded her that most of it was surely not.

"You know what to do," Sesshomaru stated, from his position a several steps away.

Kagome nodded in response. It was all talked about more than once, after all. So she sat, clad in a simple white gown made from youkai silk, on a patch of growing grass, closed her physical eyes and opened her mind one to turn in deep within herself. There, two opposing forces fought between each other as usual, with Kagome's body being a battlefield which they demolished over and over again with their clashes. If she wanted, she could've temporarily reigned in her reiki, but a slightest lapse in concentration would make it retaliate, lashing out to her youki – and it was better not to. That always resulted in only more hemorrhages when her holy powers tried to actually burn her blood, not that it didn't do that anyway.

It was time for that to stop.

Kagome reached for her youki. It responded readily. Her previous 'meditations' already conditioned her and her energies for the current task, and when she concentrated on the image and feeling of what she wanted her youki to become, it had eagerly shifted, always keen for changes. The key was to make those changes specific and erase even an idea of any other ones.

It went smoothly at first. With her reiki temporarily put aside and under Kagome's tight leash, her youki moved and stretched in her body, transforming it to her will despite the protests her flesh send to her with impulses of burning pain. Waves of fur run over her skin, with spider silk of her clothes melding with it seamlessly. Her body expanded in size and altered in shape. At the same time, a rush of sensations and desires hit Kagome's brain. All of her sensory faculties were sharper than ever, and all of her new instincts hit her head at the same time. It was overwhelming, and for a moment she faltered under that storm.

She would've probably held on, if not for the most prominent of those desires. An instinct to continue her bloodline, together with the lust that began to burn in her lower stomach and the memory of how pleasurable laying with Sesshomaru was, and how it gave her that precious reprieve from her pain, made Kagome stumble further.

Here she was, still suffering, trying to assume some shape and only feeling more pain from it. And here was he, a virile male, able to bring her the reprieve from it in the best possible way. And suddenly, her previous goals – whatever they were – seemed much less important than changing her form back into something better in size for jumping him and making him bring her that reprieve again, one way or another.

A pressing wave of youki passing over Kagome's form, clearing her mind from thoughts like this. She stumbled and sat back on her rock – when she had even risen up? Her body was on fire, and she could feel blood trailing down her face.

"A failure," Sesshomaru concluded coming up to her as Kagome tried to clean her face with tufts of grass. "Why?"

Kagome made an attempt to gather her jumbled thoughts together. She still had opportunity to try again – a failure wasn't the end of the world, but every attempt hurt her greatly, and she couldn't just waste them. She needed to fix her mistakes, so she thought hard about the answer. It was easy to reach - an embarrassing, but unexpected mistake. Twice embarrassing: first time - because of how stupid it was, second – because of what exactly it was.

"It went well at first," she spoke with a slight blush, "but then heat hit my head and I was, uh, a bit distracted by you, Sesshomaru-sama. And then I decided that I can't do… anything… with you, if am as gigantic as I was, so I started to shift back."

Sesshomaru raised his eyebrows with an amused grunt.

" _Then,_ " he rumbled as his silhouette shifted, melding into a great figure of his true form. For a moment, it looked as if he was grinning wide and feral, before his face was completely replaced with a muzzle, " _try again now._ "

Kagome did. Not immediately, though – first, she spend some time resting and cleaning herself up. The lakeshore near the den was a great place to just sit and enjoy rays of sunshine, while Sesshomaru was lying with his muzzle on his paws, either relaxing too, or just waiting patiently. It would've been such an idyllic moment if not for how bad Kagome felt.

When she had finally tried again, it was harder, her battered innards protesting violently. Still, she persevered through her torment, channeling her youki. At first, it went just like in her previous attempt, but, in accordance with Kagome's hopes, when youkai lust hit her she continued to keep her original goal in mind, even if reasons for reaching it became different.

And then, suddenly, with one last excruciatingly sharp influx of pain, it just clicked, like a finally solved puzzle lock. Every element of her body had finally felt on its rightful place, not conflicting with others, perfectly content to be whatever it was. Her youki finally had what it wanted – a complete definition, a form – and stopped tearing Kagome apart with its need for self-determination. It was the best feeling in the world, or maybe it felt like that because she finally was completely free of her pains.

There was no end for Kagome's joy. Everything was right in the world in that moment. All the smells, colors and sounds of it greeted her in what felt to her like a cheerful song of sensations. Energy was rushing in her veins – perfectly fine veins, that weren't popping like overripe plums or burning like hot iron! – in a need of release. And so, Kagome ran, barely even noticing how Sesshomaru rose from his place and gave chase.

Her four paws left deep imprints in a damp from thawing snow ground, but Kagome still felt like she had no weight and was flying, and even all the trees around didn't slowed her down much – those of them that she didn't tore down without even reducing her speed. Sesshomaru run circles around her, corralling her and playing with her like a cat with mouse. Kagome eagerly participated in this game of tag, zigzagging chaotically through forest and trying to not let him touch her.

At the same time, she took the opportunity to look over the already familiar forest with her new eyes – and nose. Everything was bright and clear, and even in her rushed passing Kagome could tell so much about what transpired in there! She could smell wild animals, even if she couldn't tell which exactly with her lack of experience, and trails of small youkai, and besides it, everything was filled with the smell of Sesshomaru through his territorial marks. It was hiding the smell of the dog youkai himself when he decided to hide in ambush for her, making their game all the more exiting.

Sun was hanging high in the sky when Kagome had finally felt herself tiring. The chase lasted for what felt like hours, and while her exhilaration might have weathered out during it, her joy was still filing her heart to the brim, and her stubbornness was not letting her to just give up and let Sesshomaru catch her.

It was at that exact moment that he pounced on her, as if he, like a true predator, was only waiting for Kagome to weaken. Sesshomaru's jump had taken her unawares, allowing him to pin her down with his weight. Kagome yapped in surprise, but managed to gather enough strength in her paws to roll over on her back, making Sesshomaru jump off her. But a short moment later he was pouncing again, taking an opportunity, which her open belly gave him, to strike.

Kagome caught him with her paws to try and shake him off again, but in the end managed to only roll over so that she was on top of him. They continued to play-fight like that for a short while longer, tossing and exchanging bloodless nips and shoves; but finally, Sesshomaru trapped Kagome under him with his teeth on the scruff of her neck, and she relaxed in that position, accepting her loss. It was a great fun anyway. Looking at Sesshomaru in his human form one would never be able to tell that it was in him to play like this, but Kagome knew from experience how he liked to hunt and chase.

With a pleased grumble, Sesshomaru stepped away, giving Kagome an opportunity to rise up and finally take notice of the place where they stopped their game of tag. It was just another forest clearing, now greatly enlarged and completely ploughed by their rough play. The only interesting thing in there besides Kagome herself was Sesshomaru.

Now that she had calmed down a little after the initial rush of her success, Kagome had a better time with rational thoughts. There was a notion of changing back to her original form, but she didn't want to. Besides wishing to enjoy great senses of the dog one, Kagome was afraid that the sorry state of her body will return when she transforms back, and she would've liked to push that away from herself, if only for now.

Furthermore, there were some other things she wanted to do first, desires that came from some more primal parts of her brain, new and inhuman. There was an intense need in her body, one that could be only diminished by a male… And one such stood just nearby, looking at her with hungry eyes. Kagome shivered under the look, understanding that even if the game of chase was over, she was still a prey for Sesshomaru. But it was fine, great even. It was exactly what she wanted, and there was nothing to stop Kagome now. Her body and mind both called for him, and when he approached with a clear intent, she turned his back and tail on him readily just as her instincts and knowledge were telling her to do.

They also readied her for the moment when Sesshomaru entered her, covering Kagome from behind. It was, just as he had said earlier, not as pleasurable as when she was in human form, but there still was a strong desire for more, and when Sesshomaru thrust in her, she had pushed back against him. Just a few movements later his member enlarged inside of her, increasing the pleasure and starting to create sweet tingles in Kagome's body with each next thrust.

It didn't took much time for Sesshomaru to spill his seed in her, and while Kagome didn't felt those mind-blowing sensations from before, her needs still felt sated, if temporarily, and the experience was, generally, not bad. But now he had knotted inside of her, and Kagome knew that there might pass a whole quarter of an hour before they will be able to finally separate – and that was just awkward.

She stretched out her neck to throw a look at Sesshomaru. He seemed to be unaffected by this, and just waited calmly. Trying to accommodate him a little, Kagome lied down in more comfortable for their wait pose.

" _This part is awkward,_ " Kagome complained. Her pronunciation was now much better than ever before. " _Maybe I should have just shifted back._ "

" _Relax, Bird,_ " Sesshomaru rumbled unhurriedly in response.

She snorted. It was easy to him to say – he could just shrug off what seemed like literally everything. And what was with the 'bird'? It looked like Sesshomaru had finally decided on what to call her in dog speak. Kagome guessed that it was from the meaning of her name, 'caged bird'. It just sounded unfamiliar to her ear.

" _But! I had succeeded!_ " Kagome reminded herself aloud. It was a real cause to rejoice, despite where that eventually led her. " _I feel so great, and nothing hurts at all! Can you imagine? I had finally done it, and all thanks to you!_ "

She could feel it clearly without even trying, the two opposite forces that lied within her. Now, contrary to how it was before, youki was an outer layer, while her reiki hid behind it. But this detail, while curious, was not as important as the fact that both were completely subservient to Kagome's will. Even being things of opposite nature, they didn't fight between each other now, because she had willed for them not to without even thinking about it; and just like a reiki barrier could stop a youkai without harming it, two energies didn’t clashed with each other anymore.

Having nothing better to do in the moment, Kagome even tried to summon a spark of reiki on her nose. It shined bright pink, and she yapped happily in a dog version of laughter when it didn’t bring any ruin on her body as an aftereffect, even though it would've probably burned any other youkai if it was so close to their skin. Her joy overruled her previous awkwardness, and when she had stopped laughing, she just let her head rest on her front paws and waited in comfortable silence, breathing in smells, sounds and sights around her.

Finally, Kagome felt a knot inside of her deflating, and, in hurry to finally be able to roam around freely again, she quickly slipped away from Sesshomaru's hold. He rose on his paws too and looked at her with a certain gleam in his red eyes that Kagome was starting to recognize. It reawakened the need that was temporarily sated by their mating just now, but being more in control of herself at this moment, Kagome stomped down on it, hard.

" _No way!_ " she barked at Sesshomaru, bristling. " _I am not going to be stuck here again!_ "

He snorted, turning his back on her with a wave of his tale.

" _Then we should return to the den and change back,_ " he growled.

Kagome wasn't really keen on that, but there seemed to be little of other options. She knew that if she stays like she was, eventually her lust will grow again until she will yield to it. Kagome didn't know if shifting to a human form again will diminish it, but at least sex will be better if it doesn't. And she wasn't going to stay in the dog form for her whole life anyway, at least if she could help it. She hoped there will be no complications with that.

The process of transforming back was simple in comparison to the opposite process, and understanding of it was almost intuitive even without Sesshomaru's earlier explanations. Kagome just needed to release her youki back to its original state… Problem laid the fact that its original state was a god damned _mess_.

But having no other options, Kagome tried to do it anyway. Like a snap of a string, her youki returned to its malleable state, only for her reiki to envelop it in a blink of an eye – and just like that, two energies returned to the balance of their original positions, and Kagome's body – to its original size and shape. It all went, thankfully, without a hitch. She still was free of pain and aches, as if her transformation healed even them somehow, and even thought after having youkai senses for half of a day the world around her seemed to be so very dull, Kagome was grinning happily.

"Your scent had changed again," Sesshomaru noted from his watching spot across the lake. "It's completely different now."

"How, Sesshomaru-sama?" Kagome asked, making her way up closer. She wished she was able to tell the answer without outside help. She also wished for a moment, that Sesshomaru wasn't so attractive, because all the time they were returning to the den, she kept having random dirty thoughts about taking revenge for her earlier loss in their game of chase by pouncing on him from behind when he doesn’t expect it, and then…

And influence of the mating season didn't seem to end with return to the human form, because she just had one of those thoughts again. It would've been so nice to ruin Sesshomaru's white clothes in mud. Then, he'd need to take them off.

"Every trace of your humanity is gone from it. There are only smells of your youkai form and of your holy powers," the dog youkai explained, looking at her contemplatively. "You are not ailed anymore."

"It seems so," Kagome grinned even wider. "I hurt really badly when I was transforming into the dog form, but it was completely painless in reverse, and I feel completely healthy now! Thank you so much for all you did for me, Sesshomaru-sama!"

She bowed low in a show of her appreciation, but that didn't seem to be enough. She was in a life debt to him, after all. On Kagome's current opinion, that required a grateful hug – though a more logical part of her brain was telling her that she just wanted to feel Sesshomaru up.

When she raised her head again, Sesshomaru was grinning back at her. There was an edge of violence in that baring of his teeth, but while predatory, it wasn't malicious. And there was true joy in it, too.

"It was not without its rewards," he said as his grin dimmed to a smirk, and Kagome made another couple of steps towards him, still thinking about a giving him a good, grateful, _friendly_ hug.

"What are you going to do now, Kagome? You are free from your oath to this Sesshomaru," Sesshomaru suddenly asked, his face a calm mask again.

Oh, Kagome knew what he was going to do! First, she was going to visit Haruko-chan; then, she will finally go to see her family for the first time in years. And after that, she was going to drop by to Tsunohiyoru and Touran too!

"And after you visit all of your friends?" Sesshomaru asked with a glint of amusement in his eyes.

That dimmed Kagome's enthusiasm considerably. She… she didn't really know. She could still return to the Ryokami mountain and be a shrine maiden (or a shrine woman, at least), but she had only travelled there in the first place because of the threat that Shikon no Tama was; and that was gone now. Kagome could be a priestess in her family's shrine too, but there, in a more populated place, any other wielder of holy powers that was worth his purifying salt (including her grandfather and her brother) will probably be able to tell that she wasn't a normal priestess. She will be probably mistaken for a witch, or a dark priestess – it were them who usually wielded both reiki and youki.

And Kagome didn't really have any other ideas of what she could do for life. Just build a hut somewhere and tend for the ground? That sounded extremely boring. Not that being a priestess was most interesting thing in the world – it was just something Kagome was because of her upbringing, not her choice. She sighed dejectedly. A whole life ahead of her, and no ideas on how to spend it.

"I don't know, really," Kagome finally admitted. Being honest with herself, she could add that for starters, she didn't want to leave Sesshomaru's side. Would he permit her to stay with him to repay her life debt if she asked? It wouldn’t be a bad way to spend the rest of her life. "I never even thought of that with the curse and all that…"

"There are still many things that you'd better to learn. If you wish to do so, this Sesshomaru is willing to teach you, Kagome," the dog youkai proposed.

Kagome looked at him with surprise that soon shifted into suspicion. Last time they made a deal like this, she essentially became his slave… Though, now she had realized that the scary deal was mostly for the sake of Sesshomaru's sensitive ears – she'd protested some of his commands much louder if not for his authority to just throw her out anytime if she'd really rebelled. It was not like he didn’t had other means to make her do stuff if he'd wanted to, but Kagome had felt much more inclined to comply when she had promised to do so in the first place. And it was a long time now since Kagome last time had made anything that really annoyed the hell out of the youkai.

So no, Sesshomaru's free offer wasn't suspicious – his motives were, but again, in a good way. Feeling bold from all the positive emotions roaming within, Kagome called him on them. Pulling out his teeth together with answers became a routine for her long time ago, after all.

"Why? Did you liked to be a teacher? Or will you actually miss me, Sesshomaru-sama? That's so touching!" Kagome smiled with false innocence as she inched closer to him. She knew it wasn't the former – he told her himself that he cared, and he wasn't a type to lie like that. She just didn't expect him to care enough to let her stay, and even suggest it first.

In response, Sesshomaru just looked at her coldly, obviously not very happy with being teased.

"Do you agree or not?" he asked with a sharp turn of his head. A proud poise, a haughty face and delectable line of his neck opened by a dismissing gesture – an urge to pounce on him was almost irresistible.

"Well, I must think about it first," Kagome drawled out, tapping on her chin as if in thought and crawling a bit closer. There was a rationale in her head that was saying that what she was going to do wasn't an appropriate conduct for an unmarried woman _at all_ , but it was a dying voice behind a chorus of much louder ones. And those all sung to Kagome that it was going to be so much fun and pleasure, and that Sesshomaru will completely agree with that too. Unless she succeeds in ruining his clothes, of course, then he might hesitate a bit, "Maybe I should just return to my shrine and…"

Her words were interrupted by her own pounce. Despite all the speed with which she was moving (which was not much, admittedly), Sesshomaru reacted in time. Quick as lightning, he caught Kagome midair to turn their positions around – and it was her who ended up with her clothes ruined in mud while Sesshomaru sat on her legs, pinning her arms to her back with one of his hands.

"A foolish attempt," Sesshomaru snorted and leaned in, speaking quietly right in Kagome's ear, "Was it your intention to lose?"

" _Maybe_ ," Kagome whined, wriggling under him in attempt to put her face as far from all the dirt as possible. The sound didn't hurt her throat like it did before, but she still continued to talk on Japanese after that, blushing all the time, "I am not sure anymore. I am just so… so…"

"Understandable," Sesshomaru said with some amusement. He had shifted his posture, and Kagome could feel his erection poking at her backside through the layers of silks – a clear show that he also wasn't unaffected, "Mating season had only just begun. This Sesshomaru believes that your decision can be postponed until its end."

That it did. If Kagome was going to act like that all the time, whether she was in Sesshomaru's presence or someone else's, then she'd better be in Sesshomaru's presence. This year or the next, or the one after that. Not that she wanted to refuse his proposal in the first place. She would've loved to learn more about youkai culture and actually finish her neglected fencing training. And Sesshomaru had promised her that she will be able to learn how to fly with the help of her youki.

With that thought, Kagome wriggled again purposefully, making special care to rub herself over Sesshomaru's manhood, and grinned when he responded with a sharp thrust of his own hips. She had promised herself to make up to Sesshomaru, after all…


	26. The sweetest taste

The rest of the mating season flew by like the best holydays imaginable. There was no rush to do anything, no looming dread, no reasons to worry. Kagome was finally free to rest and relax, which she did with a great relish, spending hours at a time sometimes just taking sunbaths on the lakeshore and daydreaming. Most of such daydreams were of quite dirty content, but that was inescapable. Kagome's body was constantly in aroused state, no matter what she was doing, and while somewhat disconcerting and very, _very_ distracting at first, she soon got used to it.

There was no way to sate her sexual appetite, after all, even if she tried to – and she did, of course. In her current company it was completely inevitable. While Sesshomaru either possessed a truly iron will, or enough experience with his body to control his urges (when he wanted to), Kagome couldn't spend too much time in his presence without jumping him (and in some cases, like at the day of her first transformation, quite literally). Not that Sesshomaru himself was less affected by heat – Kagome could smell his constant arousal in the air too, if she assumed her youkai form. Sesshomaru just was much better in ignoring it, though he never refused Kagome's advances, taking his pleasure in teaching her some more advanced lovemaking techniques. Kagome could've summarized most of them in four words: "tongues are the best".

That perky lack of self-control on Kagome's side hindered greatly any possible joint activity with Sesshomaru except for sex, including sleep in the same den – because youkai stamina, be that Sesshomaru's or Kagome's, allowed them to easily ignore latter for the former for very long periods of time. It wasn't the worst way to spent two weeks, but both of them agreed that there were also other things to do, be that housework, hunting for food or preparing for their eventual leave from the den.

Kagome also took her time exploring the capabilities of her dog form and of her control over the energies within her body. While the first time was painful, after that shapeshifting came to Kagome as easy as taking a deep breath, and she spent much time in her youkai form just for its sensory faculties and fast legs.

She also repeated her old training exercises for reiki control, both in her human and dog forms, and was only pleased with the results – they came to her as easy as they did when she was just a priestess. She could also direct her youki, but it didn't have the same properties as reiki did, and Kagome couldn't do anything really meaningful with it without some guidance or more time – at most, she had managed so summon clouds of miasma, which while destructive, weren't her goal. In comparison to reiki, youki felt more solid and physical to Kagome, and while reiki always needed to be infused into something to have impact on non-spiritual things, youki at all times tried to assume more solid shapes on its own.

Together with the exploration of her powers came another problem – Kagome didn't had convenient clothes to wear for travel or training. Her human-made ones tore apart when she transformed, and youkai-made ones that Sesshomaru had given her singed and scorched every time she used too much reiki or did it too close to her own skin. It was an inconvenience – to disrobe each time she wanted to shift her forms back and forth.

Additionally, as a part of her preparations for future travel, Kagome spent time cleaning up her haven-gourd. It was in real need of spring-cleaning and some repairs if she was going to use later, as she was planning to. Sesshomaru had snorted at her efforts, claiming that things like that gourd were only tying a person down, but he had nothing on her.

"Well, if you don't want to, you might not use it," Kagome had replied then, putting her hands on her hips, "but if I have an opportunity to have all comforts of civilization whenever and wherever I want, I am going to take it, Sesshomaru! Even if I will survive without them. You don't need to be so ascetic too, you know? And you are always welcomed to use the gourd if you wish."

The lack of an honorific was a new thing. It just flew away on its own somehow, and just as Sesshomaru never asked Kagome to use or not use it at first, he never did now. It just seemed somewhat inappropriate from Kagome's standpoint to keep up with honorifics when the two of them were on too equal ground for '-sama' and too close for '-san'. And Kagome wasn't going to repeat after Tsume with the '-kun', no way. That was a mother's privilege.

The closeness naturally came from the time Kagome and Sesshomaru had spent together. The equal ground, though, was more complicated. It wasn't something new – it was just something that Kagome only now had a chance to truly realize. She was always happy to follow after Sesshomaru whenever he would lead her. Part of it came from her feeling of debt towards him, but another, much heavier one, came from trust. She trusted him to take care of her when she was unable to, just like he did before, and not lead her astray. That, sometimes, included small things. The haven-gourd, for example. Sesshomaru clearly disliked the item, but didn't actually oppose Kagome in using it. He didn't help with cleaning it too, though – but that was to be expected.

Finally, one morning two weeks later Kagome woke up with muddled remnants of yet another explicit dream in her mind and a body that was blissfully devoid from the strong and persistent need to have sex with someone right there and then. Her heat ended, and that meant that she was now actually able to think clearly and be productive again – a realization that made Kagome sigh in relief. First time in more than half of a year she was actually feeling just _normal_ , and what a reason to smile and laugh it was.

***

Kagome knew that yesterday evening, after a goodnight round of sex, Sesshomaru had flew away to sleep somewhere in a distance from the den. Because of that she wasn't surprised to not see him around when she rose up to clean herself up and drink a cup of tea. Her kitchen lately felt into a bit of disuse; her completely inhuman, according to Sesshomaru's words, body didn't required any human food for nourishment, and being in heat, she just hunted her youkai from time to time, not bothering with actual cooking besides finishing her stashes of dried fruits and nuts for a snack.

When she had finished with her tea, cleaning Ah-Un's corral and putting him on a leash outside of the den so he could graze on fresh grass near the lakeshore, Sesshomaru still wasn't around. Wondering if he was still asleep, or if he was busy with something else, Kagome shed her comfortable indoor yukata and set off to sniff him out.

He wasn't far away or actually hiding – Kagome could feel his smell on the wind, clean, fresh and without a trace of arousal in it, as soon as she shapeshifted. She followed it up the river, until she reached a hilltop where Sesshomaru sat under an old, lone tree, staring somewhere into horizon with a distinct air of melancholy around him.

It was most unusual. From her position downwind Kagome couldn't see Sesshomaru's face fully thanks to the silver hair that curtained it, and so couldn't confirm anything, but his posture and aura seemed sad somehow. Not knowing what to do, but wishing to comfort him nonetheless, Kagome quietly walked up to him.

"Even trees grow old and die," Sesshomaru spoke musingly when she laid down and put her snout near his side, close enough to almost touch, "yet our desire to live will not let us do the same. Do you have many friends amongst humans, Kagome?"

" _Besides Spring Child - not really. My apprentice, I mean,_ " she admitted, closing her eyes and relaxing. Her position didn't give her a good view of Sesshomaru anyway, but she still could smell and hear him perfectly. She knew from Tsume's lessons that dog youkai could tell even a person's general mood from their smell, but Kagome wasn't experienced enough to say what the small changes in Sesshomaru's scent meant, " _Other teens mostly kept clear of me because of how powerful I was told to be. There were a few girls who became my friends anyway and one boy who had always tried to spend more time with me, but I hadn't seen any of them for years. They had probably moved on with their lives long time ago. Why do you ask?_ "

Kagome wondered if that was relevant to the reason of Sesshomaru's sadness. He didn’t answer quickly, but she was ready to wait for the reply as long as it took. There was nowhere to hurry anymore - she could've happily spent a whole day just lying near Sesshomaru, drinking in smells of plains, forests and the river. It was easy to drown in her enhanced senses when Kagome wanted to.

"Had you decided on this Sesshomaru's offer?" he finally asked, changing topics instead of giving her an answer. It was, just like the melancholy mood, also unlike him, and Kagome was worried and curious.

" _I would've wanted to stay with you even if you didn't ask, maybe as a servant if you need one,_ " she replied honestly. It wasn't a time to tease and joke, " _I owe you my life. But I would've done the same even if I didn't. You are worth following after._ "

The answer seemed to please Sesshomaru a little, and yet, a silence stretched for a long time again before his next response broke it.

"The first hundred years are the longest. Enjoy them. After that, seasons start to fly by," he had said cryptically, "and humans will perish too quickly to even bother remember their names."

It took Kagome a moment to realize that Sesshomaru had again returned to their previous discussion topic. She opened her eyes, frowning. What he was talking about? It all sounded like a jumbled nonsense. Then, as she was still trying to make sense of it, Sesshomaru turned his face to her, and Kagome could see exasperation in his eyes.

"You don't have any mortal flesh to grow old and wither anymore, Kagome," he stated and turned back with a humorless chuckle, "So oblivious again."

It had finally clicked in Kagome's mind - a major detail that she had missed before (even if for a respectful reason), always assuming that despite having a youkai form she was still a human in her lifespan. The idea of opposite was actually too great to envision – Kagome could barely imagine spending a few decades of life, and youkai lived for _centuries_. It all was so far away from her now – it was much more important to enjoy every day as it lasted. But was this why Sesshomaru was in such mood this morning?

" _But that's good, isn't it?_ " Kagome asked carefully.

"When your friends will grow old and die, you will be of different opinion," Sesshomaru said. His voice was a monotone, but Kagome didn't need to see his face to know that there were strong emotions simmering within his soul.

' _Did he have human friends before? He grew in a palace of a daimyo after all, there were probably tons of humans around. But that was centuries ago… Was Sesshomaru reminiscing?_ ' Kagome thought. It brought a profound sadness to her – a deep, acute ache in her chest – to know that there probably _was_ time when Sesshomaru might have had actual friends – and that they all were most probably long dead. Suddenly, Kagome's dog form was not enough to express all of the support she wanted to lend Sesshomaru at this moment and, ignoring her naked state under all that fur, she shifted back to her human state.

The world around became dull, but her emotions run sharp as ever. She hugged Sesshomaru from behind, putting her head on his shoulder, and in turn he raised his hand, carefully capturing a tear that had dropped from Kagome's eye with his claw.

"Why are you crying, Kagome?" he asked, "Do you mourn them already?"

"No," she replied, "I am sad for you, Sesshomaru. My friends are still alive, but yours… You did have friends once, right?"

"Once," Sesshomaru confirmed, "But there are no reasons to have such feelings now."

"Well, but I will!" Kagome disagreed childishly and hugged Sesshomaru tighter. He actually didn't protest this physical contact, just like its sudden increase, instead just speaking like nothing happened.

"Foolish," he was his reply, but there was some actual mirth in it, and Kagome felt relieved, "Are you ready to depart?"

"Huh? Where?" she asked and finally reluctantly left his side. Without her clothes the wind of early spring was a bit too chilly for her liking.

"Friends you wished to visit," Sesshomaru replied nonchalantly, rising up.

***

They had left at the same day – there really wasn't much for Kagome to gather – and took the journey on human feet. It was a much longer one then if they flew or even run in their dog forms, but again, there was no rush, and the route was a most scenic one.

Their company of three – Sesshomaru, Kagome and Ah-Un - had travelled for a week along seashore, slowly moving east towards Kyoto. Sesshomaru and Kagome made for a strange couple amongst other travelers – a mononoke and a woman in men's clothes, with a bow on her back and a sword on her hip, and that without accounting for a two-headed hatchling that woman was carrying in her hands. The sight made for bad meetings with strangers on a road, but Kagome couldn't help it.

It made little sense for her to wear priestess's garb now, but pants were just too convenient in travel to dismiss altogether. And Kagome surely wasn't going to travel weaponless – roads were dangerous! Even if, admittedly, most dangerous thing around was the youkai near her. The last time they had travelled Sesshomaru chose less populated routes, but now they had met quite a lot of humans, most of which were rightfully fearful of him. Some, though, were not. And that meeting had ended very unfortunately for those people.

Admittedly, those people were brigands who thought to rob Sesshomaru out of his possessions – there was only one way for someone like him to react on that. It didn't change the fact that Sesshomaru seemed to not value human life more than that of a passing fly. That made Kagome afraid that one day there will be a moment when someone with more importance would become a victim of Sesshomaru's claws, whether the reason for that was a good one or not. And angry, because one of those brigands was just a fearful young boy, most probably forced to became a bandit by famine or other bandits, but his throat was sliced with the poison whip just the same.

She put Ah-Un, who had curled into a fearful ball, on the ground, and walked through the mess of dead bodies to the one that brought her such distress. Kagome's hands were clenched into tight fists and she could feel telltale sting of tears in her eyes as she sat near the boy's body.

"Don't you have any mercy in you, Sesshomaru?" Kagome asked in shaken voice as she had closed his eyelids, "Didn't you saw that other guy pushing him towards you? He didn't want to fight! Maybe he could've still become a farmer somewhere if you didn't kill him!"

"He would've died in a few decades anyway, only for two more humans to take his place. Why should this Sesshomaru care?" he replied casually. His attitude made Kagome even angrier.

"Every life matters, no matter how short or long! His, mine, and yours too, Sesshomaru! I can understand killing in self-defense, but you are so much stronger than any human – you could've easily spared his life!" Kagome was shouting then, and Ah-Un, now scared even more, sought shelter behind Sesshomaru's legs.

"And what for the other brigands?" Sesshomaru asked her with narrowed brows, "Do they also deserve their lives?"

Kagome's shoulders slumped. She hated dilemmas like this one. If it was in her power, everyone would've been able to live and let live. Sadly, reality was far from being so nice. Death of her father was a real reminder of why not everyone should be allowed to roam around freely.

"No," she admitted with a sigh, "Ideally, they should've been brought to the law, but the punishment for robbing on a road is a death sentence anyway. But law is not always right! It would've sentenced this boy to the death too, and I still believe that you should've let him live, Sesshomaru!"

"No one tells this Sesshomaru what he should or shouldn't do, including you," he bristled immediately. Kagome cringed – that hadn't been her best verbal move – but still squared her shoulders and glowered back at the youkai. She had no intentions of going to back off from this. And it wasn't just because she had been a human once too.

"Well, then think about it for yourself, Sesshomaru! Forty, fifty years may look short for you, but for them it's their whole life – a really long time!" Kagome argued, "It's just wrong to not bother to not kill someone only because you don't see it like they do. If everyone thought like that, world would've been in complete chaos! Shouldn't a person who realizes it strive to be better than that? Not to be so… dismissing and cruel. And if he was your friend," she added more quietly, "wouldn't you want him to live as long as he could?"

For a while, Sesshomaru just stared down at Kagome with his best deadly glare, which she tried her best to counter with her own one. The staring contest lasted so long, that Kagome's eyes had completely dried out, but she didn't dare to blink.

"You preach about right and wrong, but what makes those ideas of yours better than anyone else's? If you truly wish to fight for your beliefs then challenge this Sesshomaru for them," he said in steely voice and put a hand on hilt of Tenseiga. The movement caught Kagome's eye, and she furrowed her brows in determination when she had realized what it meant. ' _A resurrecting sword…_ '

"Then I, Higurashi Kagome, challenge you, Sesshomaru of the dogs, to the challenge of… of…" Kagome stumbled, gathering her ideas. It needed to be something where she could actually win, but not something he would just refuse. And considering the centuries of experiences behind Sesshomaru's shoulders, he was probably better than Kagome in lots of things. Thankfully, the youkai waited patiently for her to come up with an idea, "…of power! We will fight until opponent surrenders or is incapacitated."

Sesshomaru seemed to be a bit surprised, but then his lips spread in malicious grin. Kagome could understand it – at the first glance, that didn't seem to be an area of expertise where she was better than Sesshomaru, but after some rushed thinking she decided that she had actually decent chances. Kagome might not have Sesshomaru's finesse, but if she transformed, then it would be irrelevant, and she still would be able to use her reiki to pack a punch that even Sesshomaru will feel.

"This Sesshomaru accepts the challenge," he declared, raising his clawed hand.

"Wait! We shouldn't fight right on the road!" Kagome interrupted him before he decided to start the battle immediately, "Let's walk away somewhere first."

***

They had relocated to a secluded enough valley nearby. Kagome had put Ah-Un into the haven-gourd for his safety; Sesshomaru had brought the corpse of the young brigand. Now it was laying carelessly a few dozen of steps away like some kind of morbid ante in their contest, together with a pile of Kagome's clothes and her weapons.

She felt a bit awkward standing across Sesshomaru completely naked, but that didn’t last for long. With no one around to judge their match, it started as soon as both of them had confirmed their readiness, and right after that Kagome shifted her inner energies, transforming together into a giant dog.

She roared in battle cry, and immediately tried to crush Sesshomaru in her maw. He still was in his human form, and dodged easily, snapping at her snout with his poison whip in a process, but Kagome just shrugged the attack off with a protective sheen of reiki on her fur. He was going to bring heavier weapons if he was going to actually hurt her, and Sesshomaru seemed to realize that too as he flied towards her with his bare claws.

Fighting him in this form was like trying to squash a particularly fast and agile fly, which could also pack a disproportionally strong punch. But Kagome knew that if she shifted back, she would lose instantly without boons of enhanced speed and strength that the dog form possessed, so she just tried her best. She stomped on Sesshomaru with her paws, snapped with her jaws, and blasted him with reiki if he stayed near her for too long, at the same time not letting him close to any of her vulnerable points.

Finally, it seemed that Sesshomaru had finally lost his patience, or maybe just realized that he wasn't going to win like that, and transformed as well. Not being above a dirty trick, Kagome used a moment of his metamorphose to pounce on him, landing atop of him just as his youki stabilized in new shape, trying to pin his neck with her teeth and burn him into submission with her purifying aura.

In return, Sesshomaru mauled her ear, making Kagome cry out in sudden sharp pain and jump off him, giving Sesshomaru enough time to stand up. There was blood on his teeth, and blood flew down her mane.

" _Had you just bit off my ear?_ " Kagome growled, as the as the two of them circled around each other, waiting for a moment to strike.

" _Is that bothers you?_ " Sesshomaru replied. His long tongue passed over his lips and teeth, licking the leftover blood from them. Kagome snarled in response, wishing it was her who drew the first blood.

She felt exhilarated. Her heart beat fast and her blood rushed in her veins, calling for battle. Her instincts called for her to shed Sesshomaru's blood, to retaliate for the wound, no matter how superficial, but Kagome tried to keep herself in hand. It was not a play-fight, a life of a person was at stake, and Kagome was going to try her best to save it – it was not the time to be too emotional.

Finally, Sesshomaru charged forward, trying to get a hit with his claws. She dodged the maneuver, and used the opportunity to bite into his side in return, but all she got in her mouth were loads of his fur. Still, Kagome took an opportunity to singe it with her reiki, leaving a big bald spot when Sesshomaru pushed her away from him again. This time, it was Kagome who charged forward, shining with reiki like a pink star. It was her great advantage right now, and she was going to use it. The fact that Sesshomaru needed to come closer to attack her also played on her side.

He seemed to understand it, because instead of trying to brawl Kagome into the ground, he fluttered around her like a butterfly and stung like a wasp, attacking only when he saw an opportunity for a sure strike. And while each one of them cost him one more reiki burn, they did a great deal of damage to Kagome too – she herself now, besides the lost ear, had few nasty bites on her torso and ankles, and probably a broken rib. At the same time, Kagome was trying to pin him down again if only for a moment, but at most succeeded in adding a few scratches to the list of Sesshomaru's battle wounds.

Was she losing? Kagome wasn't able to tell if Sesshomaru was wounded more or less than her. Most of the burns he got were concentrated at his mouth, and she couldn't really see much of what was going in there. Her most important clue was the fact that at some point Sesshomaru stopped with the biting altogether and only used his claws for attacking instead. But her ribs were probably a more serious problem.

It was not an injury that allowed for a prolonged fight, and Kagome decided that her last chance was in putting everything into one last attack, strong and all-encompassing enough that even Sesshomaru wouldn't be able to dodge it until she will get him. With that plan in mind, she roared, letting most of the leftovers of her reiki out in one wide blast, flooding the valley with her holy powers to the brim.

It shined bright, making Sesshomaru close his eyes as he braced himself for inevitable impact. As it hit him, Kagome could smell the foul stench of burned fur again, and while Sesshomaru's youki was too strong for him to disintegrate on the spot, especially from an attack so unfocused, he did few steps back, shaking his head in a daze.

Kagome used this moment of distraction to pounce on him, making Sesshomaru let out a roar of pain as her paws landed on already burned spots. He retaliated, turning on his back and crushing Kagome under her weight, but she didn't let go, instead grabbing with her paws, snapping her jaws on Sesshomaru's shoulder and ignoring the pain in her wounds. Her whole body still glowed with reiki, and she could taste burning flesh in her mouth. It was probably torturous for him, and for a moment Kagome felt a sting in her own chest, completely unrelated to her broken bone, until the call of blood in her veins didn't sent it away. It was an honest fight, after all.

Sesshomaru trashed around, trying to shake Kagome down, but she held on and on, ignoring her aches and stings with a great expertise, only adding more reiki to her jaws in an attempt to wear Sesshomaru down. He seemed to be in a great pain indeed, one that was too much for him to be able to transform to his human form to escape Kagome's clutches. Despite her pain, she felt exhilarated -- she was winning now, slowly, barely, but surely -- and after what seemed like forever, Sesshomaru had finally fell to the ground, whining his surrender and stopping any resistance.

Immediately, Kagome unclasped her jaws, letting out a whoop of joy. She had won! Against Sesshomaru! And had saved a life! Oh, there was no taste sweeter than that of a victory with the tart souse of Sesshomaru's blood sprinkled atop of it. A grumble from Sesshomaru's side reminded her that she was still grabbing on him, and she hurried to step aside and shift back into her human form just as Sesshomaru did the same.

Looking at him, Kagome couldn't help but chuckle. Usually pristine youkai now looked like a charred mess. She was, though, not much better. After all, contrary to him, she didn't even have any clothes, and only thing that could cover her from passing eyes was blood that was splattered on her skin. Wobbling slightly on her feet, Kagome came up to Sesshomaru. He had also stood up already and was now looking over her with slightly narrowed eyes.

"I won," she grinned from ear to the lack of one. It was a small price for a life saved, though, even if it won't grow back later, "So in your logic that means that I am right!"

"Indeed," Sesshomaru snorted. He didn't seem to feel really bad about his losing, especially in comparison to his earlier loss to Touran.

They both walked up towards the bandit boy's corpse slowly – it was purposefully untouched by the destructive battle earlier. Even with Sesshomaru's spine still straight and his gait even, Kagome could see weariness in the hunch of his shoulders as he walked, and when he unsheathed Tenseiga, he did it with his left hand – it seemed that the horrible wound from Kagome's fangs on his right shoulder made him unable to raise another one.

After one swift swing Sesshomaru put his sword away, and Kagome watched with bated breath as wounds on the boy's body healed magically, and his mouth suddenly opened in a sharp intake of breath. Then his eyes did too and he looked up at her and Sesshomaru, only to let out a terrified scream a moment later.

"Messengers of Hell!" he screamed in panic, scrambled to his feet, "Izanami-sama, spare my soul!"

Kagome didn't had a chance to say anything about her and Sesshomaru being neither of those beings before the boy was far away from them both, running so fast that his legs became a blur. ' _Well,_ ' Kagome pursed her lips awkwardly, ' _this could've gone better, but dying is probably very traumatizing. And I and Sesshomaru don't really look our best right now. Actually… oh gods, I am still naked!_ '

Kagome realized with a start and a blush that she had, indeed, forgotten to dress herself in favor of watching over the miraculous act of resurrection, and thus, the boy just saw her completely naked! It really wasn't the same as being naked around just Sesshomaru and her hands rose up to cover her breasts in a very late reflex. She needed to get dressed now! Though now that she was thinking about it, Kagome will probably be better with a bath first, if only to spare her clothes the stains. As far as she was aware, there were no bodies of water in the vicinity of the valley she was in, but this was exactly one of those situations where her haven-gourd will be a great boon.

A cold and wet touch to the place where Kagome's right ear once was interrupted her musings. She turned sharply on her heels and saw Sesshomaru's face in less than a palm's length from her own.

"What are you doing?!" she exclaimed, staggering back in surprise, "Don't startle me like that!"

"You let your guard down. This Sesshomaru is licking your wounds, since you won't reach most of them yourself," Sesshomaru explained in his customary monotone, but his eyes gleamed familiarly.

Kagome knew well about slight regenerative qualities of dog youkai spit – it mostly helped with the blood knotting and preventing infections, though did both with a great power fueled by dogs' youki. But her wounds didn't bled much thanks to her own regeneration, and she'd prefer to put proper dressings and some healing salve on them and Sesshomaru's ones instead anyway. And the gleam in his eyes suggested another motive; one that Kagome had more than enough time to familiarize herself with.

"We both will be better after a bath and with actual bandages instead of this, Sesshomaru," she replied, sitting near a pile of her clothes to produce the haven-gourd out of it, "and I have both of them with me. Come, you shoulder really needs some attention! And my ribs too," she cringed slightly, putting a hand on a horribly-looking bruise on the side of her torso.

"It can wait," Sesshomaru dismissed, moving closer to her back as Kagome stood up and pulled out the gourd's plug, "Your ferocity was… exceptional."

"What do you mean 'it can wait'? No it can't!" Kagome exclaimed, throwing her hands up agitatedly and immediately regretting it because her wounds reacted to her movements with sharp stabs of pain. She started to turn towards Sesshomaru, but that movement was interrupted when his hand embraced her from behind and a pair of warm lips with a wet tongue between them latched on her neck greedily, making Kagome gasp in surprise.

"Sesshomaru… what…" she stuttered as Sesshomaru's hand wandered across her body, stroking her bruises and gashes with utmost gentleness and caressing unblemished skin with more forceful movements. It took Kagome a second more to gather her bearings, slap the offending hand away and get out of Sesshomaru's hold, "What are you doing?!"

It was like the mating season all over again, except it wasn’t, and the situation was highly, highly inappropriate. Both of them were tired and wounded and just out of battle, and how the hell Sesshomaru was even able to think about such things right now? She guessed that his tongue wasn't burnt badly enough, after all. He didn't give her any insight in his thoughts, and instead just continued to devour her with his eyes instead of lips.

Kagome straightened up and glared back at him. If he was going to continue like that, then she was going to just try and force him to accept first aid. What the hell was he thinking about? Did she accidentally hit his head in the battle and didn't notice?

But eventually, after few long moments of tense and charged staring, Sesshomaru made a step back and his face lost the lust that was written on it moments before, though last embers of it were still noticeable deep within his predatory eyes.

"Such pure, powerful blood suits you greatly," Sesshomaru said and slowly licked it from the fingers that just caressed her breast, "You may do whatever you wish, but only after this Sesshomaru makes sure that not a drop of it is wasted."

Kagome shivered under his gaze. She was unsure if she was more grossed out or actually aroused. She couldn't deny that she liked his ministrations before, and the thought of his agile doggy tongue licking the blood from her skin _everywhere_ made her knees weaken. Was it youkai thing or just specifically Sesshomaru's perversion? More importantly, was Kagome going to accept or deny it?

Well, knowing how stubborn Sesshomaru might be, this was probably the easiest way to get his wounds patched up. And honestly, Kagome wasn't really that much interested in looking for other possible options.

"Fine, but first I will bandage you," she made an ultimatum, "even if I will need to paralyze you with ofudas first!"

Sesshomaru only chuckled slightly at that, his lips stretching in a smirk; but when Kagome plugged the cork out of the haven-gourd and let its magic to transport them both inside, he didn't resist it.


End file.
